Tadej Pogacar: "We know it won’t be easy and we’ll have many challenges"

Tadej Pogacar is entering his third Tour de France, and simultaneously he'll be trying to win his third Tour de France. He's leading UAE Team Emirates at the Grand Boucle, with a clear goal and no issues in his run-up to the race.

”It’s already my third time coming to the Tour and I’m really excited about it. We’ve worked really hard all year as a team to prepare for this and we hope we can give everyone watching 3 weeks of exciting racing," the Slovenian said in a press-release. He'll be having the support of the likes of Brandon McNulty, Rafal Majka, Marc Soler and George Bennett in the mountains, in an attempt to match the likes of Jumbo-Visma and INEOS Grenadiers who are set to have incredibly powerful climbing lineups.

He's won the Tour of Slovenia in anticipation to the Tour and will be hoping to replicate his prowess of last year. "This year so far has been a positive one for the team and we are hoping to continue that here at the Tour. We know it won’t be easy and we’ll have many challenges but that is part of the magic of the Tour," he added.

Joxean Matxin has shared the opinion of the challenge, but has reassured that the team is ready for the battle that is to come: "We have studied the route and it’s far from an easy parcours. Also the level of our competitors is really high, but we are confident and know that a big result is well within the capabilities of Tadej and the team."