Tadej Pogacar "disappointed to not win" after unexpected opportunity in Lausanne

Tour de France leader Tadej Pogacar has his sprint skills sharpened over the last few years and went on the hunt for another stage win today in Lausanne as Jumbo-Visma and Team BikeExchange - Jayco chased the day's breakaway down.

Pogacar had a stressful start to the day as he was involved in the mass crash early on. However, "in the early crash, I hit the ground but not too much. It was nothing bad for me, I came back quickly," he said. It was then a calmer day in the saddle until the final climb, where UAE Team Emirates once again took up the responsibilities.

Rafal Majka took up the pace in the final hard ramps, but there was no firepower to suffocate the faster men and no attacks coming that would favour the Slovenian. In a sprint he till had the opportunity, but had to settle with third on the day. "I’m a bit disappointed to not win today because I was not far away," he admitted.  

"I kind of liked the last climb. I hesitated a bit in the last sprint and Van Aert passed me super fast, but the third place is still great. It wasn’t the plan to win today but since BikeExchange and Jumbo-Visma wanted to catch the breakaway, then it became another opportunity for us to go for the win so we tried," the yellow jersey detailed. He still got four seconds out of the day, slightly expanding his lead over the rest of the pack.