Be it cobbles, mountain-tops or the stiff uphill finish of the kind that concluded stage 8 of the Tour de France, race leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) has so far shown no chinks in his armour.
Not even an early high speed crash on stage 8, where Pogačar was one of several top names that went down at around 60kph, seemed to have caused any major concerns.
However, Saturday’s DNS of teammate Vegard Stake Laengen – after the Norwegian returned a positive test for COVID-19 – was both a setback for UAE Team Emirates and an unwelcome reminder that the virus poses its own challenges as well.
After another day where he showed constantly at the front in the crucial final kilometres and claimed third on the stage in a brief but sharp uphill sprint, Pogacar was asked Saturday if he considered COVID-19 to be his biggest rival en route to Paris.
But the Slovenian categorically denied the idea, saying that even if COVID-19 could wreck a Tour de France for a rider, in terms of battling for yellow, his sporting enemies had not changed.
“COVID is not a rival, it’s just a virus that can affect things and it can ruin a Tour,” Pogačar told reporters in a brief press conference, “but the rivals are from other teams like Jumbo, Ineos and other squads.”
Pogačar admitted, nonetheless, that the loss of Vegard Stake Laengen, one of three riders to abandon the Tour with COVID-19 on Saturday along with Gianni Moscon (Astana Qazaqstan) and Geoffrey Bouchard (AG2R-Citroën) was an important one.
“He was a big guy for the team. He was really strong and in good shape, pulling on the flat, hills, everywhere. It’s going to be hard without him but I think we can manage with seven men to come to Paris.”
Pogačar even argued that although he strongly appreciates the support from fans on the roadsides, he feared that it could be prejudicial in terms of COVID-19.
“Every day on the road and on the climbs you see so many people screaming at you, which I like, but that increases the possibility you get infected by viruses. I hope this was it, that Vegard went home because of it, and that we will stay safe until the end.”
His head sports director Joxean Fernández Matxin subsequently echoed Pogačar’s words, underlining Vegard’s role at the start of stages to control breakaways. As further health precautions, he also said that each rider now slept in a separate room in the team hotels and had a separate soigneur.
As for the Tour itself, while Pogačar had little to say in his main press…
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