Tadej Pogacar: "It was really great to see Mark take his 35th Tour win. It’s unbelievable”

Tadej Pogacar, on the results sheet, looked to have a calm day on the bike, but it was not quite. He survived a tense moment where he almost crashed and rode across the finish line safely in Saint-Vulbas, but he shares his opinion on what is arguably the highlight of the day: The victory of Mark Cavendish at the Tour de France.

“It was a quiet, calm day, but with some pitfalls. In the end, it all turned out well," Pogacar said in a post-race interview. A day that was not too fast until the finale. With 60 kilometers to go Pogacar was in the middle of the peloton in a moment where it tackled a traffic island. The race leader had to break hard and move around the bike to avoid hitting it, thus saving his yellow jersey. However his movement did seem to be the cause for a crash behind him including compatriot Matej Mohoric.

In the final kilometers then we have seen very high speeds with Pogacar well positioned until the riders hit the time safety moment, when he then slid back in the peloton. With no mass crashes this time around, Pogacar was satisfied. “It wasn’t as stressful, like the stage to Turin for example. It was pretty calm. If we had wanted to sit in the back, we could have done that. It was just riding to the finish.”

Of course, Mark Cavendish winning for the 35th time at the Tour de France was the story of the day, and every rider will be asked regarding this amazing feat that makes history in the biggest race in the world. Pogacar said of his fellow partner in the peloton: “It was really great to see Mark take his 35th Tour win. It’s unbelievable”. Tomorrow there will be another flat day where Pogacar will need to defend his lead, but the wind will definitely make it more tense.