She reverses of Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), Tadej Pogacar did not give a press conference during the first day of rest of this Tour de France. Slovenian still communicated with the media via a recording of his comments after his traditional coffee stop and lunch. Even if he is not a yellow jersey, the triple winner of Tour However, is in front of its main competitors after a very intense first week of racing. The world champion is therefore confident before approaching the second week, which will not be easy either.
“The day of rest quickly passed …”
Two steps victories, an already comfortable advance on its competitors and in particular Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma | Lease A Bike), this week was perfect for Tadej Pogacarwho takes advantage of his rest day: “So far, everything is fine. We have made a nice outing and we have taken a coffee well. We went to the hairdresser, we had lunch with a good burger … Now, it's time to take a nap and a massage, and then it's already dinner and we are almost back on the race. So the rest day is quickly. was waiting. ”
The only shadow on the board certainly lies in the loss of JOAO ALMEIDAwho was his best team member in the mountains, but his absence will not prevent him from fighting for the yellow jersey: “I'm just happy that we have survived that-well, João, no, but here it is. Now, our field, the climbing, arrives, so it will be less stressful. We will see if Ben can keep the yellow jersey for a few steps. I think it has already spent a lot of time in the breakaway, so I hope that we will feel tired and that we can fight again for yellow in the next stages-maybe a flat stage- Hautacam (Thursday), then the time trial at (Peyragudes) and (the Saturday stage towards) Superbagnères-these will be three very beautiful days of climb. “
To listen to the Slovenian, he will now be on the defensive and will rather try to counter the attacks of his opponents, and in particular the Danish, who did not stop harassing him during the first week of racing: “Our main rivals in the general classification are still a little behind. They will have to attack. I expect it to be fast until the end of the week, because we have extended the first week of a day, and therefore the second week is shorter of a day-with also a time trial in the middle, so everything will go very quickly. I think that this week can already be decisive. Normally, the second week is always reserved for semi-mountains, escaped and perhaps a big mountain day. but this week is almost as difficult as I think that we can already observe big differences in the coming days.
