"It is a point that I ask myself why I’m still here" - Is Tadej Pogacar bored heading into fourth Tour de France win?

Tadej Pogacar has on paper one big obstacle between him and a fourth Tour de France win. Whilst the final two stages do feature some interesting explosive terrain, it's unviable for the UAE Team Emirates - XRG rider to lose the yellow jersey if he carries four minutes into them. This morning, he even admits that he is just counting the kilometers to end the race.

The Slovenian has been dominating the Tour and has survived the attacks of Jonas Vingegaard in this final week, being consistent and avoiding mishaps that could cost him time. This of course comes after months of focused preparation and racing which not only lead to physical but also a lot of psychological fatigue.

Perhaps that is what the Slovenian feels most at this point in the race. “It is a point that I ask myself why I’m still here. It’s so long, these three weeks. You just count the kilometres to Paris," he said in a press conference after stage 18 on the Col de la Loze. You could say Pogacar is not too worried: "I cannot wait until it’s all over and I can do some other nice stuff in my life as well". 

However he dismisses that he is not enjoying his time at the Tour, which is of course marked by a lot of media time, podium celebrations, and mostly recovery time in between stages. “But I try to enjoy every day on the bike as much as I can, even though it’s hard. The fans really help. It’s still nice to ride, even in the third week when you’re tired and annoyed by everybody around you".

Pogacar's view of the Tour is quite unique, that is most likely the case because of his unmatched climbing ability and the sheer ability that he has to win races in multiple types of terrain. After having been able to distance the Dane in the Pyrenees it's been a race of maintaining what he had won and remaining safe until reaching Paris.

“You just want to go home, but when you ride on these big climbs and people cheer you, it gives you extra motivation. Then you realize it’s not so bad to be here. And if you have good legs then it makes everything quite good.”