"I'm looking forward to tomorrow but there's one big question mark all over it" - Tadej Pogacar predicts 'really aggressive' stage 6 at Volta a Catalunya 2024

Another day successfully ticked off for Tadej Pogacar, towards his virtually undoubted overall victory at the Volta a Catalunya on Friday afternoon as Axel Laurance sprinted to stage 5 victory.

"Today was actually a super, super hard stage and I think it was one of the hardest in general of all the stages until now," Pogacar reflected in his post-stage interview, somewhat surprisingly given that it was a transitional sprinters day and not one of the Volta a Catalunya's famed summit finish stages that he's already won two of in this year's race.

"It was really attacking and exciting racing until the final," Pogacar continues. "I'm just happy it's over and tomorrow is a big mountain day so yeah, let's go for it!"

With Pogacar holding a lead of just shy of two and a half minutes over Mikel Landa, the general classification is more than likely sewn up for the UAE Team Emirates leader. That doesn't mean he's going to ride defensively on tomorrow's mountainous stage however. "I'm looking forward to tomorrow but there's one big question mark all over it," Pogacar says. "Short, steep climbs with a lot of climbing in a short period and it's going to be really aggressive from the start. A lot can happen."