"You can't let your ego ruin your week here" - Tadej Pogacar insists he won't go too deep at the Dauphiné with Tour de France in mind

For Tadej Pogacar, there is work to do on the final weekend of the 2025 Criterium du Dauphiné. Sitting 7th overall, 38 seconds down on the race leader Remco Evenepoel, the UAE Team Emirates - XRG leader is widely expected to attack in the mountains.

The first of three opportunities to do so this weekend, comes in the form of a challenging and mountainous stage 6 this Friday afternoon. "There's nothing crazy throughout the day, but I think in the end a lot of legs will be tired and we will see some action in the GC today," previews Pogacar in a pre-stage interview with Cycling Pro Net.

As for whether or not he will be the one instigating that GC action, Pogacar is keeping his cards close to his chest. "Well, I have quite a bit of time to get back. So maybe we try today to do something, but we'll see," he smiles. "Let's just go with the flow and enjoy the last weekend of the Dauphine."

Whilst Pogacar sits more than half a minute down on the Maillot Jaune and Evenepoel, the Slovenian is only 22 seconds down on his long-time rival Jonas Vingegaard, meaning it's still all to play for. "They have two good cards to play with Matteo Jorgenson as well," Pogacar says, well aware of the threat posed by Team Visma | Lease a Bike. "I think they can play a little bit with both of them, but they still also need to catch back time on Remco."

Pogacar has been a bit quiet by his own high standards so far this week. Whether or not that's a pre-Tour de France ploy is a topic of discussion online, but the man himself remains clear - there is room for improvement ahead of the Grand Tour. "It's not necessary to kill yourself in the Dauphine. You can't let your ego ruin your week here," he explains. "A really good example was Remco here at the Dauphine last year. He won the time trial, but then he was not at the top of the GC. In the Tour though, he was flying."

"So you need to set aside you ego and your pride and just see what you can do because there is still some time before the Tour de France," summarises Pogacar in conclusion.