Jumbo-Visma DS Merijn Zeeman feels bad for Tadej Pogacar after Col de la Loze implosion: "Very sad for him that he cracks like this"

The Tour de France was sealed today at the Col de la Loze. The brutal climb exposed the weakness of Tadej Pogacar on the day, and the gaps were huge in the finale of stage 17. Jumbo-Visma were not expecting such a scenario to end up deciding the overall classification.

“We still have to go to Paris, but this lead should be enough. We didn't expect Pogacar to break like this. Jonas took a big lead yesterday, but he just finished second. He was still very good, but today we saw that he didn't look so fresh anymore," Merijn Zeeman told NOS. "Very sad for him that he cracks like this, but for us in the game it is of course nice. I am very relieved, because there is a lot of tension on such a Tour de France."

The final kilometers of the Alpine ascent proved too much for the Slovenian. Jumbo-Visma were in full control with quality and quantity throughout the day, but in the end they did not need to put in the work to drop their main rival, who has for 15 days matched Vingegaard almost perfectly. Now it will be a matter of avoiding disaster for the Dane.

“It was a terribly tough stage and it was very hot. It's easy for me now to say that it's because of our work that it breaks, because we put a lot of energy into it. We'll never know if it's because of that, or if there's some other reason," he continues. "The fact is that Jonas cracked it, although I am standing here with mixed feelings. He really cracks today and then I don't think it's cool to cheer very loudly about that. We have a lot of respect for him as an opponent and he is a fantastic cyclist. Maybe he had something else in mind and he's getting sick, that's also possible."