"There is still a lot to come" - Pogacar's DS confirms bad day, and victory ambitions remain

Tadej Pogacar's struggle yesterday at the Col du Granon was perhaps the highlight of the Tour de France so far, an unexpected and dramatic ascent which saw some riders struggle deeply, the former race leader being one of them.

“Tadej was particularly good on the Galibier," team DS Mauro Gianetti told after the stage. "There he used up a lot of energy, perhaps forced himself a little too much. But he had to make decisions. He wanted to eliminate some opponents there. That also seemed to work, but a lot of riders came back in the descent," he explained.

Although with little riders, Pogacar was solid in the peloton, resisting the advances of Jumbo-Visma and dropping everyone but Jonas Vingegaard in the process. “Don't forget that we have been decimated by the withdrawal of Bennett and Laengen in the meantime. But Pogacar still had Majka by his side on the final climb. The biggest problem was of course that Tadej himself had used too much energy on the Télégraphe and the Galibier and he paid for it in cash in the last five kilometers," he explained.

The stage was to be decided in the final ascent, where Pogacar lost a significant amount of time to his rivals. There was no excuses however, as the team shrugged off rumours of illness: “All credits to Jumbo-Visma. They have a strong team. They also wore the jersey earlier in the Tour. We knew they weren't going to wait until closing week to attack us. The team wrote a great cycling page today. Spectacular, tactically well executed," he congratulated.

However, ahead of another colossal mountain day in the Alps and an array of stages in the Pyrenees, the race is far from over. Pogacar has to recover 2:22 minutes on the Dane and a very strong Jumbo-Visma, however if any rider can do it it's the defending champion. “Tadej is in perfect shape. Otherwise he would not have been able to parry so many attacks on the Galibier. We are going to hold wood, but there are absolutely no symptoms of Covid either. He wasn't hungry on the way either. No, this is the credit of Vingegaard and his teammates," he said.

Gianetti added: “Some stress has crept into the team in recent days. It wasn't easy. Tadej has been wearing yellow for a number of days, which creates extra pressure. There are also the obligatory press conferences afterwards, the late arrival at the hotel too. Add to that the positive Covid cases of Bennett and Laengen, the extra measures we had to take to isolate riders in the hotel, testing everyone every day.”

“There is still a lot to come. Starting with tomorrow [stage 12]. That will again be a tough job with an iconic finish. We're going to enjoy it. We are going to have a spectacle anyway and of course I would love to see Tadej take care of that," Gianetti concluded, promising spectacle.