"I wanted to hit hard today" - Tadej Pogacar smashes Tour de France competition and gains 50 seconds on Jonas Vingegaard in the first mountain test

After a stunning performance from Jonas Vingegaard on the second stage of the Tour de France, questions were asked on whether Tadej Pogacar would be able to make a difference on the first day in the mountains. With class and great form, the Slovenian capitalized on a massive day of work from UAE Team Emirates to take the stage win and the yellow jersey.

"I'm super happy. This was more or less the plan and we executed it really well. I'm super happy, it was like a dream stage and I finished it off solo, it's incredible," Pogacar said in a post-race interview. UAE Team Emirates never let the breakaway get a meaningful gap and also pushed the pace up, rider by rider, in the aproach and slopes of the Col du Galibier. A full team effort, all riders of the team spent time in the head of the peloton until João Almeida and Juan Ayuso led an eight-rider group into the final kilometer of the climb, where Pogacar finally decided to attack.

This was a day he had marked on the calendar and had high hopes for. "I wanted to hit hard today and I know this stage really well I've trained here a lot of weeks in the past," he explains. "It felt like a home stage to pass through Sestrière and Montgenèvre. It was really nice to race here and there were bonus seconds on the top as well so I had confidence in the start and good legs and I had to try". 

His attack saw Jonas Vingegaard follow, but only for a few seconds. The differences that the 2021 and 2022 winner wanted to make were made, although on the climb itself Pogacar only had a few seconds over the Team Visma | Lease a Bike rider. "At first it was a lot of headwind in the climb so on the wheel it was not super hard but the team did a super good job. I didn't want to go early because of the wind, so I had to make the difference in the last few hundred meters," Pogacar explains. 

On the downhill he extended his gap significantly over his two closest chasers: Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel. "I know the downnhil a bit but I was surprised to see a bit of wet road in the first few corners so it was a bit scary. This descent is super fast and if you know the road it really helps". At the finish line, 35 seconds on the road to his closest competitors. Adding time on the road and bonifications, Pogacar won a whole 50 seconds on Jonas Vingegaard.

"It's very good news and I can be happy in this place. I'm super happy with the shape and how I feel on the bike so yeah let's continue day by day," he concluded.