"I'm not afraid of Jonas Vingegaard. Yesterday I was more afraid of Remco Evenepoel" - Tadej Pogacar assesses Tour de France rivals as race reaches first rest day

Tadej Pogacar's dream of a historic Giro d'Italia - Tour de France double in 2024 is still very much alive at the Tour reaches its first rest day. In the Maillot Jaune after nine stages, the UAE Team Emirates leader holds a 33 second advantage in the general classification.

"Visma is trying to have confidence towards the third week, just like last year, but it doesn't affect me, because I also have a lot of confidence in myself. I have the yellow jersey and if everything goes well I should have good legs next week and in the final week," the two time Tour de France winner says in his rest day press conference, in quotes collected by Het Nieuwsblad. "On the second stage, when we rode up San Luca, we took the KOM there, but Jonas Vingegaard was able to keep my wheel. When you ride up San Luca so quickly, you are in shape. You can also see it in the way he rides in the peloton: Jonas is simply in shape."

As far as Pogacar's main rivals go, during the first week, Remco Evneepoel and the aforementioned Vingegaard seem to be the strongest. For Vingegaard especially, this is a slight surprise, given his near three month injury layoff following the horrific injuries sustained at the Itzulia Basque Country. "I didn't know how good he would be after his crash in the Basque Country, but when they announced Jonas for the Tour I knew they wouldn't let him start if he wasn't in shape," Pogacar assesses. "After stage 2 I knew I wouldn't be able to make big time differences with him. They tried to downplay Jonas' shape a bit. But I don't care about that and focus on my legs."

Nevertheless, on the gravel stage 9, it wasn't Vingegaard that Pogacar had to concern himself with as the Dane and his Team Visma | Lease a Bike teammates went into full on defensive mode. "Hats off to Remco. It's fun to race against him. He showed yesterday that he dares to race aggressively. He's really good and in good shape," Pogacar explains. "I'm not afraid of Jonas. Yesterday I was more afraid of Remco, but I'm not afraid of anyone as long as my own form is good. Yesterday I saw that Jonas was more afraid of me or others."

"When Remco had a gap, Jonas looked at me. He only focuses on me and is a bit afraid of me. We'll see how it goes in the mountains. If they try to get to me mentally, then I can say: that won't work. They're riding against me, but that's just me, that was the case in the past Tours too. I focus on myself," Pogacar continues. "The first part of the Tour consisted of nine stages, but it started rather quietly. Now there are stages where bigger differences can be made. I think we will see bigger time differences next weekend after stage 15."