"Maybe tomorrow it’s me who gets three minutes" - Tadej Pogacar looking for revenge after dramatic Col du Granon implosion

Tadej Pogacar has until today looked flawless at the Tour de France, avoiding the major crashes, sprinting to two wins and climbing as strong as all his rivals and better. However the high Alpine terrain of stage 11th stage of the race proved too much for the UAE Team Emirates leader who cracked in the final kilometers.

"I don’t know what happened. At the Galibier I was still so good. I got lot of attacking from Jumbo-Visma. Then, in the last climb I just didn’t have good legs," he said after the stage. Pogacar responded to two attacks from Primoz Roglic at the Col du Télégraphe, aswell as multiple moves from his compatriot and Vingegaard at the base of the Col du Galibier. Looking strong and having some support, the race leader stepped up the game towards the top of the highest point of this year's Tour as he dropped everyone but the new race leadee Vingegaard.

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All was to play for at the Col du Granon, where Rafal Majka supported him throughout the first half of the ascent, but when the Jumbo-Visma rider attacked there was no answer. Pogacar then was caught and dropped by several riders who were chasing, in spectacular fashion in a way that has not been seen for years.

"For us it was hard to control who went on the break. We were not many guys anymore. In the end, Van Aert and Laporte went up front. They played it great tactically today," he admitted. Although it was some sort of issue on the final ascent, the role of Jumbo-Visma's aggressive racing was damaging of the Slovenian's armour.  

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He lost 2:51 minutes at the line in the climb's summit, and is now 2:22 minutes behind Vingegaard. He will have to change strategies now, with the clear need of attacking the coming weeks to regain that time.

"I suffered all the way to the end. It was not my best day. We will see tomorrow if I can do better. I want to race and give everything from here to Paris. I want to end the Tour with no regrets. Jumbo-Visma played it hard... It is not over yet. He got three minutes today; maybe tomorrow it’s me who gets three minutes. We will fight until the end," he concluded.

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