It’s clear that Tadej Pogačar races his own way, whether that’s an 80-km solo break at Strade Bianche or driving a break with his arch-rivals during the gravel stage. The Slovenian loves to animate racing.
His Danish competitor, Jonas Vingegaard, is somewhat more reserved. In fact, during Stage 9, he refused to work with Remco Evenepoel and Pogi, instead choosing to save his legs. The stage was won by French rider, Anthony Turgis of TotalEnergies. Canadian Derek Gee was oh-so-close to a win, coming in third. And he did, however, move up from 14th to 9th overall in the general classification.
On his racing style
Before the beginning of Stage 10, he was asked about his racing style and whether he needed to be more savvy.
“About racing intelligently or not, it is nonsense,” he said.
At the Giro d’Italia, Pogačar took the leader’s jersey after the second stage and put ten minutes on Dani Martinez and third-placed Geraint Thomas. He’s leading the Tour and given his recent performances, looks like the man to beat when the race ends in Nice.
“Right now I am in the leader’s jersey so for me that is intelligent—to be in the lead with a good gap,” he said. “At the Tour de France, intelligence is important but you need to have the best legs to win.”
The Dane defends his tactics at the Tour de France
After the gravel stage, Pogačar—on a rare occasion where he smack talked his rivals—said that Vingegaard may be scared of him.
The Visma – Lease a Bike rider defended his tactics. “Maybe some people don’t understand our tactics but that’s their problem. We only focused on not losing time,” the defending Tour de France champion said. “I would have lost the Tour de France yesterday if I had done that. I had a puncture and was riding Jan Tratnik’s bike. I have my plan and I trust it. I’m generally better in the third week.”
Tuesday’s stage is flat and should favor the sprinters…but the riders will race in the mountains on Wednesday.
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