Tom Pidcock: I saw 700 watts on my counter, so I can only imagine what Pogacar did

Tom Pidcock continues his consistent and good run of form at the Tour de France, climbing with the best in the Grand Colombier and arriving just after Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard, whom he was surprised with in the final attack.

"It is oddly enough that it is a bit easier to race with the favourites. You ride faster, so the steep sections don't feel as steep as when you ride slower," Pidcock said in a post-race interivew. "I was pretty good and I did well. It was a seventeen kilometer climb, but we finished in a bunch sprint. I saw 700 watts on my counter, so I can only imagine what he (Pogacar, ed.) did."

The Briton had his hopes to test himself in a GC fight this year at the Tour and so far his goal is being successful. He sits eighth in the overall classification, but over the past two mountain stages he's been taking back time on the riders ahead. On the Grand Colombier he managed to sustain the pace of the GC group until 500 meters to go, being the closest match to the attacking duo. He did end up taking 17 seconds on teammate Carlos Rodríguez there, who sits fourth in the GC currently.

Michal Kwiatkowski made it a successful day for INEOS Grenadiers with a victory atop the climb, and the Briton was happy with it: "Maybe we should rename the French National Day as INEOS Day, after I already won last year on Alpe d'Huez. It's special because there was a moment when we hesitated to drop Kwiato back to position ourselves well for the final climb. UAE gave the leading group little space and still won the stage. I prepared this Tour with him, so this is great. I know how hard he worked for it, so this is a wonderful reward," he concluded.