Tadej Pogacar looks for the reason for his breakdown in the tough eleventh stage of the Tour de France. The Slovenian, who was considered unapproachable, had to give in to Jonas Vingegaard on the final climb of almost three minutes.
“At the beginning of the stage I still felt good. I was attacked on the Galibier and the Jumbo-Visma riders were very strong, but I was always able to keep up at first”, Pogacar looked back on the run-up to his demise.
However, from 5 kilometers below the top of the final climb, the Col du Granon, Pogacar was unable to react to Jumbo-Visma’s attacks. Vingegaard drove away from the two-time Tour winner, took the stage victory and captured the yellow leader’s jersey.
“Suddenly I felt bad,” said the UAE Team Emirates rider. “I don’t know what it was: whether it was because of the efforts made or because I didn’t eat enough, for example. It was certainly not my day.”
Disappointment at Tadej Pogacar.
Disappointment at Tadej Pogacar. Photo: Getty Images
‘I keep fighting’
Partly due to the slump of Pogacar, there was a landslide in the general classification. Yellow jersey Vingegaard has a large margin of 2.22 minutes on Pogacar, who is combative despite the painful loss and the significant deficit.
“It is now up to me to attack. I will keep fighting. I have lost 3 minutes and will try to win back the time. It can be a nice duel”, he already looked ahead.
Pogacar may already be able to hit back on Thursday when the twelfth stage ends at Alpe d’Huez. The Alpine stage has no fewer than three climbs in the hors category and can once again lead to a fierce battle between the favourites.