Tadej Pogačar is aware of a factor or two concerning the limitless heartbreak Primož Roglič has endured through the years on the Tour de France. In 2020, in spite of everything, Pogačar gained his first Tour by divesting his compatriot of the yellow jersey in probably the most traumatic of circumstances at La Planche des Belles Filles.
Roglič’s subsequent visits to the Tour have been much more accursed. A yr later, his rematch with Pogačar was ended earlier than it began by a crash within the opening days. In 2022, one other crash pressured Roglič at hand management of Jumbo-Visma to Jonas Vingegaard.
On Thursday, Roglič’s newest try to roll the boulder again up the mountain was repelled by a crash barely a dozen kilometres or so from the end of stage 12 in Villeneuve-sur-Lot. The Slovenian would attain the end line 2:27 down. The full extent of his accidents is unknown, however the harm to his general hopes is already clear. Now sixth general at 4:42, Roglič won’t win the 2024 Tour.
Like most riders within the peloton, Pogačar sensed the crash quite than seeing it firsthand. Amid the every-man-for-himself tumult of a finale like this, there was no time to evaluate the harm. Only when he had reached the rostrum space did Pogačar be taught from UAE Team Emirates workers that his fellow Slovenian had been the principal sufferer of the crash.
“I heard one thing at the back of the bunch, however at that second, you can’t go searching, so that you simply know that one thing occurred, however not what number of guys went down or what precisely occurred,” Pogačar mentioned.
“As quickly as I crossed the end line, my guys instructed me that Primož had crashed and misplaced time, so I obtained an actual shock. It was actually shit information, unhealthy information. I’m actually upset for him, I’m actually unhappy for him that he crashed and misplaced time, as a result of he was trying day by day higher on this Tour.”
Roglič had already suffered a tumble within the finale of Wednesday’s breathless stage to Le Lioran, however he emerged with out lasting harm to his particular person and with out undue hurt to his general hopes. As the crash fell inside the last 3km, Roglič was awarded the identical time as the person he had been driving with, Remco Evenepoel, simply 25 seconds down on Pogačar and Vingegaard.
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There was no such reprieve on Thursday. Roglič had been the least convincing of the 4 primary contenders up to now, however that didn’t imply he was totally out of the operating. Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe administration had insisted his coaching had been tailor-made to the longer mountains nonetheless to return. The level would possibly now be moot.
“He was coming actually strongly to the second week, I believe, so it actually sucks for him,” Pogačar mentioned. “I want him the most effective. I hope he didn’t injure himself and that he can proceed. Everybody is aware of he’s a giant fighter. I want him the most effective for the subsequent levels to recuperate. Maybe he can win a stage and nonetheless come again shut on GC. But we are going to see.”
Vingegaard and the Pyrenees
Pogačar, for his half, rolled residence safely in the principle peloton to retain the yellow jersey and keep his buffer of 1:06 over Evenepoel and 1:14 over Vingegaard. If dash levels earlier on this race had been quite tepid affairs, this run by means of the heavy, rolling roads of the Lot was quite extra heated. “For a dash stage, right this moment was top-of-the-line for me,” Pogačar mentioned. “It was fairly a quick tempo, up and down, and I loved the street.”
There was better curiosity in what Pogačar needed to say about an up and down day of a distinct sort. When Pogačar attacked on the Puy Mary on Wednesday, it regarded as if he was about to take out a everlasting lease on his maillot jaune. Instead, his possession of the jersey appears quite much less sure after Vingegaard closed a 35-second hole after which surprisingly beat him to the stage in a two-up dash.
In Villeneuve-sur-Lot on Thursday night, Pogačar revealed that he had taken the uncommon step of watching the stage again on tv. Vingegaard’s comeback should absolutely have been a blow to Pogačar’s morale, however he got here away from the viewing with a strikingly upbeat evaluation of his efficiency on stage 11.
“I normally don’t look an excessive amount of on the TV protection or something, however yesterday I had time within the room and I checked it and analysed it,” Pogačar mentioned. “I might see the place Jonas saved his legs and the place I couldn’t save the legs. That was one of many key moments.
“I had a fairly good day yesterday, however I believe Jonas had top-of-the-line days of his profession yesterday, I’d say – or near his greatest, possibly. For me, I used to be simply continuously on the pedals. He had Primož’s assistance on the downhill after the Puy Mary, all of it provides up.”
After one other comparatively flat run to Pau on Friday afternoon, the Tour enters a brand new section on the weekend with a doubleheader within the Pyrenees. The back-to-back summit finishes at Pla d’Adet and Plateau de Beille will reveal a lot concerning the path of journey of this race.
“We will see within the Pyrenees once more,” Pogačar mentioned. “It’s going to be an important showdown. But I’m fairly comfy now in yellow. He must assault. We will see.”
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