Tadej Pogacar: "I didn't have the same feeling as in the Dauphiné. Today I managed to overcome myself"

Tadej Pogacar did not win today's stage of the Tour de France but he was perhaps the big winner of the day. He managed to win over a minute on Jonas Vingegaard on a day where both looked to be equal on paper.

"These first five stages have gone by very quickly. This is starting to heat up, the Tour is getting more exciting. I'm happy to be in yellow, although on the other hand, it could be long if we maintain it tomorrow and the day after," he said in a post-race interview.

The Slovenian had experienced a tough time-trial in the Criterium du Dauphiné where he lost time to both his rivals and so he came into today - despite the good form - on the defensive, looking not to lose time on neither of them once again.

Whilst Remco Evenepoel was not a major threat to the Tour's victory, Vingegaard was. But at the end of the day, the Team Visma | Lease a Bike rider struggled quite a lot and lost very important time. Pogacar wasn't focused on his rivals however:

"I approached it as a battle with myself. I didn't have the same feeling as in the Dauphiné. Today I managed to overcome myself. I knew the rivals were very tough, and losing only 16 seconds is a good result, behind the best time trialist in the world".

At the end of the day the UAE Team Emirates - XRG rider has climbed onto the podium as being the simultaneous leader of the KOM, points and overall classification. He carries a lead of 42 seconds over Evenepoel and a whole 1:13 minutes over Vingegaard. We have two hilly stages ahead where we could see gaps, which will require full-on focus specially as Visma will now have further pressure to attack the race.