Mauro Gianetti confessed to have "had some doubts" about Tadej Pogacar's form before Tour de France

Tadej Pogacar was the second strongest climber in the group of favourites on stage 5. However the Slovenian still lost more than a minute to his big rival Jonas Vingegaard, who put in a stellar performance on Col de Marie Blanque and left his competition in the dust. UAE Team Emirates' manager Mauro Gianetti admitted afterwards that the team had some doubts whether Pogacar would be 100% ready for Tour de France.

"It was the fight everyone expected," Gianetti said after the stage. "Vingegaard was very impressive and Jai Hindley played well too. He did very well. It was not a super day for us. I haven't spoken to Tadej yet. We had some doubts before the start of Tour, but we were hopeful after the ride to Bilbao. Now it appears that there is still a difference between him and Vingegaard. Fortunately, we took some seconds in the first stages. Now we lose time, but it's not very much. We are still in the game."

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UAE Emirates took control of the peloton during the stage. Was that wise, since Pogacar was not at his best? "I don't think he wasn't good, he was just second behind Vingegaard. If that's not good… Tadej was good, but it wasn't enough to sit with Jonas."

"It was also our responsibility to take control of the race and not let the lead get too far. Hindley has won the Giro. As I said this morning, the battle probably won't be just between Tadej and Vingegaard. We must also consider other challengers. We now see that Jai Hindley is a serious challenger."

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At UAE Emirates they hoped that Pogacar was in good shape. "But we knew from the start, from the fall in Liege, that it would be difficult to be at 100%. Now we are here, we respect the race. We fight from day one. We have owned the yellow jersey for four days. We take our responsibility and are currently only 53 seconds behind Vingegaard and one minute and 40 seconds behind Hindley. We've done five stages. It is still a long Tour."

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