‘We are not obligated to attack’ – Tadej Pogačar weighs up strategy as Tour de France reaches Pyrenees

At the Tour de France start in Agen on Friday morning, most talk was of Primož Roglič’s crash the previous day and the Tour de France’s imminent entry into the Pyrenees the next. Outside the UAE Team Emirates bus, however, manager Mauro Gianetti warned against underestimating the task that lay immediately before Tadej Pogačar et al, namely stage 13 to Pau. “In the Tour, every day is a key day,” he smiled.

There was certainly plenty to digest by the time the peloton had completed the 165km run through Armagnac country four hours later. A riotous stage began with UAE’s Adam Yates slipping into a dangerous break of 22 riders. Later, Pogačar lost a key domestique Juan Ayuso, who climbed off with COVID-19, and then Visma-Lease a Bike looked to force more echelons.