“These kinds of crashes hit you more two days later" - UAE address concerns over Tadej Pogacar after Tour de France crash
Cycling
How Tadej Pogacar recovers from his dramatic stage 11 crash is likely to be a decisive factor for the remainder of the 2025 Tour de France. Although the UAE Team Emirates - XRG leader has seemingly escaped any serious injuries, that doesn't mean the Slovenian is guaranteed to be 100%.
“A few riders — three, I believe — jumped from the chasing group to the right. That created a ripple effect. Others followed,” reflected UAE Team Emirates - XRG sports director Mauro Gianetti in comments collected by HLN. “It was just one of those things. But everyone could see: Tadej wasn’t at fault.”
Because of the accidental, unfortunate nature of the crash, Pogacar's GC rivals opted not to take advantage, and instead chose to wait up for the Slovenian as he remounted and rode back to the bunch.
“We were all worried,” admitted Gianetti. “You never know with a crash at that speed. But he was on his feet quickly and inspecting the bike, which gave us hope. And thanks to Jhonatan Narvaez and Adam Yates, he got back into the bunch fast.”
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Gianetti understandably was very grateful for the respectful reaction to Pogacar's scare by the rest of the GC group. “Chapeau. Massive respect. No one had to wait — it was a race incident, and they could’ve kept going. But they chose to compete with legs, not luck," he says warmly. "That’s what makes this sport so special."
“There was more worry than actual damage, thankfully,” Gianetti added, addressing the injury concerns of his team leader. “It’s part of the sport. We deal with the consequences, dust ourselves off — and go again on Thursday.”
Pogacar's teammate Tim Wellens though, admitted the Slovenian's tempers were raised afterwards, despite avoiding time loss and serious injury.
“He wasn’t in a good mood,” explained Wellens. “He was annoyed. Cursing. Understandably. No one enjoys crashing.”
And whilst serious injury has been avoided, Wellens admits that's not the end of the concern for the world champion.
“He won’t sleep brilliantly tonight,” the Belgian admitted. “These kinds of crashes hit you more two days later — when the stiffness really kicks in.”
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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