Tour de France 2023: Pogacar-Ko because of herpes?

Tadej Pogacar makes a colossal effort on the queen stage of the Tour de France and loses crucial minutes to rival Jonas Vingegaard. At the finish, the Slovenian jokes, meanwhile there is speculation about the role of a herpes infection.

The Tour de France is decided. Only a fall or an illness can stop Jonas Vingegaard. On the king’s stage of the Tour of France, the Dane once again duped the competition, above all his challenger Tadej Pogacar, who collapsed extremely on the final climb to Courchevel.

The Slovenian had to let go with a heavy kick. Vingegaard looked around in surprise and then accelerated. The gap to the tour leader increased to a total of 7:35 minutes. The preliminary decision.

In the target area, the visibly marked Pogacar was able to smile again about his slump. When asked by a reporter how he was feeling, he said, after a moment’s thought, “Gef***” and then burst out laughing. “I’m dead,” he added. The Slovene radioed this quick analysis to the team in the final phase of the stage. “I don’t know what happened. I just came into the last climb very empty. It’s extremely disappointing.”

While Pogacar and his UAE Emirates team are still investigating the cause, fans and experts have speculated about the role of the 24-year-old’s herpes infection. The infection on Pogacar’s lip has been visible for days and may indicate a weakened immune system.

“Herpes infection can weaken performance”

At the “Eurosport” broadcast, commentator Karsten Mingels explained that he had spoken to one of Team Ineos’ team doctors, who said: “A viral herpes infection can have a major impact on the immune system and also weaken performance.”

Expert and ex-professional Jens Voigt also assumes this. “Since the drivers are already physically at the performance limit and at a similarly high level, it’s clear: If you only lose one or two percent of your performance, that’s the difference between winning and finishing fifth or eighth.”

However, it is unclear how large the share of the herpes infection in Pogacar’s performance slump was. He still has four days to survive, the tour traditionally ends on Sunday in Paris.

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