Matxin talks "bittersweet Tour" for UAE Team Emirates

Tadej Pogacar had a very difficult and dramatic battle at the Tour de France where he didn't manage to overturn the late dominance of Jonas Vingegaard, and Joxean Matxin has talked about the race with his personal insight in a recent interview.

“It’s a bittersweet Tour for us, because when you come to the race to win and you don’t, that’s what you feel. Pogačar’s power numbers were as good, and in some cases even better than in 2021," Matxin told AS. "On the day of the Col du Granon he had a collapse and he lost three minutes,” he said. “We don’t want to take anything away from Vingegaard, far from it, but if we had a complete team that would have been much more complicated for that to have happened".

"Still, we have to congratulate the winner," he said. Pogacar was trying to take his third consecutive Tour de France win, but found troubles in the Alps as Jumbo-Visma attacked him on stage 11 to Col du Granon, conceding almost three minutes on Jonas Vingegaard which proved decisive in the finale. “Tadej has huge talent and he’s very optimistic. It was obvious when he saw on the Hautacam that he couldn’t take back any time and in the time trial as well, the options of victory ended there, but he never stopped trying".

"For example, on the Hautacam, he could have saved himself until the final climb, fought for the stage victory and the King of the Mountains jersey. But he didn’t do it. He wanted to win the Tour and he took risks. There’s nothing to be unsatisfied about for what he achieved," Matxin detailed, with an inside point of view.

The Slovenian has in the meantime announced that he will not be riding the Vuelta a Espana as initially planned, instead taking some rest before following a schedule based on classics in preparation for the World championships and Il Lombardia.