“I’m glad Tadej Pogacar wasn’t around when I was at my best” – Chris Froome admits relief their Tour de France peaks never collided
CyclingThursday, 16 July 2026 at 15:30
Four Tour de France victories once made Chris Froome the dominant Grand Tour rider of his generation. Tadej Pogacar’s latest assault on the yellow jersey has nevertheless prompted a striking admission from the recently retired Briton: he is relieved that he never had to face the Slovenian while both were at their peak.
“I’m glad Tadej Pogacar wasn’t around when I was at my best,” Froome told L’Equipe during the 2026 Tour de France.
Froome won the Tour in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017, repeatedly imposing his authority during the opening mountain tests before Team Sky controlled the race around him. Pogacar arrived at this year’s edition seeking a fifth victory after triumphs in 2020, 2021, 2024 and 2025.
The records place them side by side for now. Froome believes the manner in which Pogacar breaks the resistance of his opponents belongs to another category. “It’s very different. I think he kills them,” he said. “I used to work hard quite early in the Tour to gain an early advantage, but mainly for the mental battle. But Tadej takes that to a whole new level.”
Pogacar pushes Froome’s Tour method to another extreme
Froome was rarely content merely to survive the Tour’s first major summit finish. He won at Ax 3 Domaines in 2013 by 51 seconds and demolished the field at La Pierre-Saint-Martin two years later, taking more than a minute from Nairo Quintana and almost three from several other leading contenders.
Those performances shaped the remainder of each race. Rivals were forced to attack a rider who could rely on one of the strongest teams in Tour history, while also knowing that Froome remained capable of taking further time in the mountains and against the clock.
Pogacar has applied similar pressure in 2026, but with even greater margins. After 11 stages, the UAE Team Emirates – XRG leader holds a lead of three minutes and 36 seconds over Jonas Vingegaard. Remco Evenepoel and every other contender are already more than four minutes behind.
His attack on the Tourmalet was the moment Froome felt the contest had been psychologically transformed. “On the Tourmalet, he made it clear to the others that they would be riding for second place, that victory was out of the question,” Froome said. “I know how demoralising that can be for your rivals. But on the first mountain stage, I was gaining a minute; in Tadej’s case, it’s three minutes. It’s incredibly impressive.”
Froome’s Tour teams often strangled opportunities for their opponents once an early advantage had been established. Pogacar has instead combined control with repeated attacks and victories across a wider range of terrain, making it difficult for rivals to identify where he can be exposed.
Chris Froome at stage 4 of the 2026 Tour de France
Four-time winners separated by very different endings
Pogacar began the 2026 Tour level with Froome on four overall victories and now sits in a commanding position to join Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain on five.
Froome never received a meaningful opportunity to make the same attempt. He finished third at the 2018 Tour after winning the Giro d’Italia earlier that season, then suffered the career-changing crash which ruled him out of the following year’s race.
“I regret crashing in 2019 because I was flying,” Froome said. “Honestly, I was in the best shape I’d been in for years. I was really looking forward to that Dauphine time trial to show I was ready for the Tour.”
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He accepts that skipping the 2018 Giro might have improved his prospects at that year’s Tour, but it would also have cost him the victory which completed his collection of all three Grand Tours.
“If I hadn’t gone to the Giro in 2018, I would have been fresher for the Tour, but in that case, I would never have won the Giro,” he said. “That’s just how it is, I can’t change it, so I’m not going to try to torture myself over it.”
Froome’s pursuit of a fifth yellow jersey effectively ended before Pogacar made his Tour debut in 2020. Six years later, the Slovenian is not only poised to move beyond Froome’s total, but doing so with margins large enough to make one of the race’s most dominant former champions grateful that the comparison can never be settled on the road.
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- Such a negative climate around Pogacar. From spectators to riders to directors... How does he dare to be so good? He should burn in hell for that! Imagine if people spilled their mud like that when Bolt was crushing everyone or even nowadays when Duplantis wins every contest he appears. Sick society. I would understand if he behaved like monkey after winning a stage. But he is a modest guy who generally doesn't brag and always shows respect towards his competitorsBublubublu16-07-2026
- I must have missed that part too. Regarding signing for Israel Premier-Tech. They took a chance that he would get over his injuries and come back to his best. Very few ever do. That was a gamble that Israel Premier-Tech took a chance on and lostCyclingsbestfan16-07-2026
- Why sad? This is a sport, not a drama movie. And your prediction is about 2x too small ;-) I have always been annoyed by “unwritten rules” like “do not attack in the feed zone” and others - where riders who rely on those unwritten rules complain -> true champions win. There is only one rule again: whoever crosses the finish line first wins!averagecyclist16-07-2026
- of course the years after his crash and lack of success are one thing, but what did i miss? where does the article say anything about froome trying to benefit financially now from his last crash in august 2025?Ketterechts16-07-2026
- Wow... so on next year's TdF, UAE should only follow others, never take the initiative or the lead, Tadej should never win stages during the 3 weeks, just ride enough to be second place no matter who is in first place, and then on the last mountain stage go full gas just to prove to anyone that he and his team can do it and win it like that. The other teams will be satisfied, right?Lobz7716-07-2026
- Thats a sad modern attitude. Fair chance your not 25 yet.whit2pet16-07-2026
- Really sad that after what 6 years he is now trying to milk the injury for money. He scammed Israel Prem Tech for millions where he could not even win a UK 4rh cat race. Find it sad that such a great rider reduced to this.paultryan200216-07-2026
- Its known as courtesy not rules, tradition not laws.abstractengineer16-07-2026
- nobody dispute the accident even though it was largely due to him even after Poels had warned him. The problem is sticking to the false narrative that he was capable of winning the tdf for 5 years, the numbers were close etc even when he was getting dropped midway in races , trying to mislead everybodyabstractengineer16-07-2026
- He got lucky with Vuelta, TDF is a blood bath, even Jonas lost 2:30 in a stageabstractengineer16-07-2026
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