Tadej Pogacar said he doesn’t understand Visma’s tactical choices after the gravel stage around Troyes in the Tour de France.
“It was just that I like to ride on the gravel, I guess. It’s in my nature, I think,” Pogacar said after stage 9. “Also, it’s way better to ride in the front than in the back so I tried a couple of times to make a gap, but with the headwind, it was pretty, pretty shit, so…”
“I didn’t have a clear visualisation before the stage,” Pogacar said. “I was just wanting to survive but then a lot already happened already. When I stopped for a pee, we started to go fast. Then we came to the first sector and on the uphill it was already splitting a lot and I saw that the race would be super hard and then it was.
“The end was really hard, but it would’ve been even harder if there would have been a tailwind. So yeah, the end was more or less like I expected, but we tried a little bit also.”
“I think Visma is just focusing on me and underestimating the other GC contenders. They just follow me, without thinking of Primoz [Roglic] or Remco. Afterwards, it was a shame that there were some headwind towards the finish, as that made it impossible for me to break away in the closing kilometres.”
“Today me and Jonas could have ridden away from the other GC guys – or when it was me, Remco, and Jonas to secure the podium places more. It’s just the way I’m seeing it, but everybody has their own race. I can’t say anything against that. It’s just the way it is.”
