Surprise winner of the 1st stage after an improbable scenario, Tadej Pogacar surprised much fewer people when he won on the 6th and 7th stage of Dauphiné criterium Friday and Saturday. At the end of the 8th stage won by Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) and which he concluded in 3rd place this Sunday, the Slovenian therefore won the French race for the first time, after having passed through a few moments of doubt following his disappointing time. A little less than a month of Tour de Francethe world champion truly asserts himself as the man to beat in July having easily dominated Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) et Remco Evenepoel (Sudal Quick-Step), its two adversaries announced.
Video – Tadej Pogacar's reaction on video
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“We knew how to transform the negative into positive”
Fully satisfied with his week, Tadej Pogacar made a very big step for his preparation for Tour de France : “It was a really incredible week. Again today, the team did a great job. We managed to defend the jersey, and we can go home satisfied to prepare for the Tour. There are a lot of positive things to remember this week, and we have been able to transform the negative into positive, so everything is fine. There were significant differences after the time trial, but when we looked at the profiles of the last stages, we knew it was hard. So I knew it was possible to come back, even if it was going to be difficult. I am really happy to have succeeded.
But even if he has shown that he was already stronger than his opponents, the Slovenian will continue his training to arrive ready in July: “Now, we go on an altitude internship at Isola 2000. There is no longer much to do before the tour. I will rest a little, maybe doing a specific job for the time trial, and I will be ready. I had not run the Critérium du Dauphiné in 2020, when the race had been shortened because of the COVVID. It was among the fifth days of my entire career. I finally came back and I am great, super happy and proud. “
