Tadej Pogacar successfully defended his yellow jersey on the iconic Mont Ventoux, fending off fierce attacks from Jonas Vingegaard on stage 16 of the Tour de France.
“Job done,” Pogacar declared with a smile, satisfied with his performance on the grueling climb. He admitted to pre-stage nerves, haunted by memories of 2021 when Vingegaard had distanced him on the same mountain.
“Luckily, I didn’t have the same legs as in 2021,” he quipped, noting that he responded to all of Vingegaard’s attacks and even gained two bonus seconds in the sprint at the summit.
While the stage win went to breakaway riders, Pogacar emphasized that it wasn’t his primary goal.
“We weren’t really aiming for the stage win today; the breakaway riders deserved it,” he said.
“I defended the yellow jersey well, as I had decided in the morning. I was coming up quite fast, I could see the winners ahead in the last 800 meters, but not even Superman could have caught them there.”
“My form is good, but it was quite scary to come out of the rest day and immediately have to do Mont Ventoux,” Pogacar admitted. “But I came through it well.”
“Jonas really tried today. They [Visma] rode quite well as a team, but luckily I had better legs than in 2021 and could cope with Jonas’ acceleration.”
