Pavel Sivakov on helping Tadej Pogacar to Tour de France victory: "The whole team trusted him. There wasn't a single moment of doubt"

The Frenchman Pavel Sivakov has been one of Tadej Pogacar's key teammates this year, not only at the Tour de France where he won the yellow jersey but even at the World Championships where the two worked together and the Slovenian eventually won the worlds. Being a domestique for the best rider in the world is a difficult task, but not in terms of tactics, Siavkov says.

"How people see him is actually how he is. He's an easygoing guy who is also very easy to work with," Sivakov said in the Geraint Thomas Cycling Club. "At the Tour, we had so much confidence in him. The whole team trusted him. There wasn't a single moment of doubt."

This includes, at the time, Pogacar's defeat against Jonas Vingegaard on the Tour's 11th stage, which saw the Dane spark as the main favourite at that moment to win the race with the high mountains ahead. "Then the confidence was still there. It was incredible to be part of that Tour de France team". Over the second half however, the also Giro d'Italia winner took hold in the mountains and never showed a moment of weakness.

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Whereas Pogacar's unpredictability and explosivity proved to be a major challenge for Jonas Vingegaard in previous years, this year it was very much a matter of just keeping the race under control and then let Pogacar do his thing, because he was so superior to the competition in most races. So for Sivakov, in this supporting role over the Volta a Catalunya and Il Lombardia as well, it actually is quite simple.

"It's just something like, 'We must take control, and today we'll go for it.' That's exactly how it goes. So the team discussions are much simpler because we have to keep the leading group within range". Whereas this didn't use to be enough, and complex strategies were necessary even in arduous mountain days, the presence of a proven winner makes things more simple.

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He gives the example of Il Lombardia, where the team was left to chase a group of around 30 riders with very strong climbers. "We allowed maybe too big a group to get away, but still, we had such a strong team. Guys like Thymen Arensman and Tiesj Benoot rode away. That was a powerful leading group. So it's straightforward," he explains. UAE paced throughout the day consistently until they caught the breakaway... and then no-one could match Pogacar's attack.

"And even if Pogacar knows a point where he wants to attack, he still ends up going on the attack sometimes much earlier," the Frenchman adds, as another important trick down his sleeve.

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