"Wearing it has been an honour" - Tim Wellens ready to say goodbye to polka dot jersey tomorrow

Tim Wellens was quite an unexpected rider to have a multi-day stint in the polka dot jersey in the first week of this year's Tour de France. The domestique of UAE Team Emirates - XRG was allowed to gather points here and there while riding at the front of peloton in support of Tadej Pogacar, but his story will more than likely come to an end on Monday.

"It has been a very fast day out. We knew it was going to be a nervous stage because of the wind. I was full on, and couldn’t even think of saving legs for tomorrow. For a long time I didn’t have any bidons, so that didn’t help for me to feel alright. In the end, I had to let the peloton go," Wellens recounted in a post-stage interview.

On the day of Storming of the Bastille, the Tour de France peloton will finally get to test their climbing legs with the hardest stage of the race so far. With way over 4.000 vertical meters to conquer and no less than 8 mountain sprints (all but one being 2nd category sprints), GC riders will finally feel home. "Tomorrow’s stage is going to be the most difficult one of the Tour de France so far," Wellens knows.

But for the current KoM leader, the amount of points on the route is not good news with view to defending the jersey. In fact, the Belgian is already mentally prepared to hand it over as his tasks are incompatible with points-hunting. "We may suffer a lot, and it will be a working day for me - not one for myself to embark on the breakaway. I will almost certainly lose the polka dot jersey."

"I’m sure the breakaway riders will rack up most of the KOM points, and somebody will deserve to wear it. In any case, one day in the polka dot jersey is already a bonus and a privilege for me. Keeping it for several stages has been an honour," he concludes.