Tadej Pogačar put his time loss on stage 5 of the Tour de France in perspective after unexpectedly shedding 1:04 to maillot jaune rival Jonas Vingegaard on the Col de Marie Blanque.
The race’s first Pyrenean stage was set to host the next part of the pair’s showdown following a flurry of attacks at the Grand Départ in the Basque Country, but the two-time champion had no answer when the Dane made his move on the day’s final climb.
He’d roll home in Laruns 53 seconds down on Vingegaard with another tough mountain stage coming up on Thursday, but after the stage, he had greater concerns.
“After the race, it was pretty good, but then I’m more sad to hear that my girlfriend [Urška Žigart] crashed today in the Giro and she maybe has a concussion,” Pogačar told the assembled media after crossing the finish line.
“So that is maybe a bit more sad news than losing 50 seconds to Jonas, or one minute, so let’s go day-by-day.”
Žigart, who rides for Jayco-AlUla, left the Giro d’Italia Donne on stage 5 after going down hard at the rear of the peloton and inadvertently taking out stage 4 winner Antonia Niedermaier of Canyon-Sram. The team has yet to provide a definitive update as to her condition.
Pogačar will have to refocus quickly for stage 6 of the Tour de France, another multi-mountain day featuring the Col du Tourmalet and a summit finish at Cauterets.
Whether he can stick with Vingegaard or even claw back some time remains to be seen, though he’ll certainly hope to avoid a repeat of being put to the sword by his rival and teammate Sepp Kuss as he did on Wednesday afternoon.
“When Sepp Kuss went really hard on the climb, I think [Jonas] could see that I was a bit going full gas, so he tried to attack and I couldn’t follow because he was stronger today.
“The last 2km on the climb, for sure,” he said when asked if he was on the limit. “But I hope for better legs tomorrow. I think it’s going to be OK. It’s still a long way and I feel OK – that is the more important thing.”
With riders not venturing out of the team bus to speak to the press after a tough day for the team, it was up to UAE Team Emirates principal Mauro Gianetti to try and explain what had happened in the preceding four hours.
He spoke at length to the massed press camped outside the UAE team bus in Laruns, saying that Pogačar’s lead-up to the Tour – his recovery from a broken wrist resulted in only two race days in June – was a factor in the events of stage 5.
“After the stage in Bilbao we were…
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