"You never know what can happen" - Tadej Pogacar anticipates key gravel stage at Tour de France

Stage 9 of the Tour de France will take the riders through 14 sectors and 32 kilometers of gravel roads around the city of Troyes. It is a very dangerous day for the overall classification contenders and it is a day that has been anticipated for months. Tadej Pogacar shares his thoughts on what may be one of the race's most important days.

"I'm looking kind of forward to it. I did a recon, so I know what's waiting for us," Pogacar shared in words to CyclingWeekly. "I would say it's not like the most fun stage, but it depends how we race, depends on the wind, depends on the weather, depends on the peloton, what they want to do." UAE Team Emirates have a strong group of climbers but on stage 6, when Team Visma | Lease a Bike attacked in the crosswinds, the race leader was left completely isolated in a relatively large peloton still.

That was a very bad sign, but also a consequence of the team's focus on it's climbers. João Almeida, Juan Ayuso and Adam Yates will most likely be scrambling to keep their GC positions on this day as the domestiques will fully focus on Pogacar. Nils Politt and Tim Wellens are expected to be the two riders keeping the Slovenian in check. Pogacar, winner of Strade Bianche, Tour of Flanders and proven quality rider on non-tarmac roads, may have the potential to attack cut because of a team that is in this terrain no match for Visma.

Jonas Vingegaard and Primoz Roglic are riders that may struggle on such terrain, but the Dane for example will have the support of Wout van Aert, Christophe Laporte, Matteo Jorgenson, Tiesj Benoot and Jan Tratnik - all specialists in the cobbled classics and riders who should be able to perfectly position the defending champion in the key moments of the race, as they have already in the opening days of the race.

Pogacar may want to take advantage of that day but a lot will depend on the attitude of the peloton and mishaps that cannot be predicted. "I think it can be a lot of varieties how the race can go, but I think I'm ready for all. Normally, I like these kinds of stages, but you never know what can happen. We'll see, we’'l see," the yellow jersey concludes.