Tadej Pogacar responds to carbon monoxide investigation: "I don't know anything about it"

This week in the Tour de France was marked by a history-changing climbing performance at Plateau de Beille from Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard, which coincidentally came just days after the release of an investigation from Escape Collective that warned to the possibility that riders in the peloton could be using carbon monoxide inhalation to improve performance. This topic was brought up to Pogacar after stage 16, but the Slovenian has shrugged off the idea.

Stage 16 promised to be a day where the wind would make the difference, but this turned out not to be the case. "I'm glad it wasn't as windy as expected. There were some crucial points where we wanted to be at the front, but overall it was a fairly easy stage. I'm glad this stage is behind us," Pogacar said in a post-race interview. "The stages for the sprinters in the Tour de France are unique in a way, because there is always some kind of danger that you have to watch out for. There are often still some tricky points, so you always have to stay focused if you want to stay out of trouble until the finish."

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Pogacar arrived a few seconds after stage winner Jasper Philipsen, but because of Biniam Girmay's crash, there was no time loss or changes for the GC contenders. The yellow jersey has hence navigated the most dangerous days without losing time, even though UAE Team Emirates was nowhere near the support of Team Visma | Lease a Bike this Tuesday afternoon in the very nervous finale.

"So I'm glad the sprint stages are over. Even though there are still some tough days to come. Wednesday's stage for example, because it can be windy at the beginning and there are still some tough climbs to conquer at the end," he said of tomorrow's stage into Super-Devoluy where he may be tested by Jonas Vingegaard. "I think it's a stage for the breakaways, just like the day after. In the last three stages we will come out on top as GC riders".

Lastly in the press conference, as pointed out by former pro Michael Rasmussen, Pogacar was asked about the investigation which connected UAE Team Emirates and Team Visma | Lease a Bike as some of the teams that have access to technology that may be used to carbon monoxide inhalation. Israel - Premier Tech is another, but different teams gave different responses to their use of it, mostly agreeing on testing the riders' physiology. Pogacar's response to this topic being brought up is quite unusual however: "I don't know anything about it. I thought it was something coming out of the cars".

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