Tadej Pogacar took his thirteenth Tour de France stage victory at Pla d’Adet after he attacked about four kilometers from the finish and made the jump to teammate Adam Yates.
“We tried to go for the stage, and I thought more to go for the sprint, maybe take some seconds,” Pogacar said, “but I acted on instinct, and for this to happen – it’s much better.”
“Adam attacked, and Visma had to try to maintain the gap. I thought if I bridged over to Adam, he could pull me, which he did like it was the last 500 metres of a stage. And that was really perfect.
“I must say – a big thank you to all the team today, they were amazing and this victory is for all my teammates.”
“I just screamed at him [Yates], he screamed back at me, it took us almost five minutes to get it clear. I said – ‘Go! Go! for the stage, and we’ll see what happens, if somebody reacts, we can see how we test everybody else’s legs.’
“So I was thinking he might have a chance for a stage win, but then I saw the opportunity to go towards him. He basically died on the road for me so I could gain a little bit of an advantage, take a breather, and go on to the finish. So a big thanks to Adam, in the end – he was the key.”
“It was not revenge, this is just cycling, it’s not a war or anything, it’s a game we play and sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. But today, this was a big win.
“It’s a Tour de France stage, it’s above almost everything else in cycling and when you cross the line first, with the yellow jersey, winning the stage, really – it’s something hard to describe how good it feels.”
“But you cannot only look at the power output for 15 or 20 minutes, it´s also how handle all the pressure, all the emotions, everything and I think this adds up every year. So I’m getting more and more comfortable on the bike and I’m having fun. I think for sure I cannot go much better for more years, so I will enjoy this while it lasts.”
