Tadej Pogacar on his own dominance: "The team pays you to win, not to give them away"

21 Tour de France stage wins at age 26 and counting. Tadej Pogacar is an absolute winner and has already gathered four triumphs throughout this Tour, and after being the fastest up the Peyragudes he was questioned about his dominance and eagerness to win often even when it doesn't seem necessary to do so.

"I'm not here to make enemies, but this is the Tour de France. You cannot just back off if an opportunity for a stage win comes up," Pogacar said to several news outlets after the finish, including Cyclingnews. "You never know when it will be your last day. I will say, honestly, the team pays you to win, not to give them away."

UAE Team Emirates - XRG have in Pogacar the highest payed rider in the peloton, but above all a rider who can bring them the wins they seek in search of a potential record, whilst the World Champion is himself building on what could in the future become the Tour's stage win record - with Mark Cavendish having beaten it last year after decades of Eddy Merckx' being on top.

Pogacar does not feel like it is being greedy, but instead rewarding the work of his team, both those that are on the bike and off. "I have a big team behind me who work every day of their careers for me to come to the Tour, and if I single-handedly decided to start giving away opportunities, the team would not be happy. So if there is an opportunity, I cannot say no to a stage in the Tour".

But aside from the understandable reply regarding the importance given to the team, he has also opened up about what he thinks of his legacy and how it compares to how he is seen within his peers. "In the end, when I finish my career, I will probably not speak to 99% of the peloton. I will focus on friends and family."

For the time being he carries over 4 minutes to Jonas Vingegaard, a very big gap, but until Paris he will not give in to the idea that the Tour is won: "I had great Tours those years in some ways too, I got stage wins, and I got second overall. But there were moments in them where others could take time on me, too. So you never know whether this can be the Tour where I have a bad moment or others can have better days. I wouldn't say I'm untouchable. I will try to be, but you never know."