'A big pain in the ass' - Pogacar's appeal for water falls on deaf ears in Vuelta finale

Tadej Pogačar endured a scare when he was caught by Enric Mas atop the Puerto de Bartolo and another when he went off the road on the descent, but – inevitably – he still found a way to win when he reached Castelló at the end of stage 6 of the Vuelta a España. 

While Pogačar praised Mas’ effort on the upper reaches of the category 1 ascent in his post-stage press conference, he complained that his pleas for a water bottle from the commissaires in the finale had fallen on deaf ears.

Pogačar had taken a bottle ahead on the lower part of the climb and poured it over himself, but he was without a bidon for the run-in to the finish in Castelló, where he defeated Mas in a two-up sprint.

“When we came to 15k to go, I asked for a bottle, for water, but there was no response from the commissaire or the organisation car,” Pogačar said. “I was a bit disappointed there, because we are racing in such heat and if you don’t have a bottle in the last 15-20 minutes, it’s a big pain in the ass.”

In a communiqué on Wednesday evening, the race jury had confirmed that feeding would not be permitted in the final 20km of stage 6, and the bulletin also outlined the official feed and bottle zones along the route. Pogačar took on a bottle from the roadside at the last such zone on the lower slopes of the Puerto de Bartolo, and it appears the commissaires simply applied the established rules when he sought a bottle in the finale.

Pogačar attacked 3.7km from the top of the climb after his UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammates Jay Vine and Pablo Torres had ratcheted up the pace at the head of the red jersey group.

At one point, race radio and on-screen television graphics suggested that Pogačar had opened a gap of close to a minute over his GC rivals on the gravel section on the upper portion of the ascent. The Slovenian was startled to realise Mas had crept up behind him and the Movistar rider sprinted past him to lead over the summit.

“I really didn’t know that Mas was there because I heard a group of favourites was, I don’t know, 40 and then 50 seconds behind,” Pogačar said. “I just said, ‘OK, I need to come to the finish of this climb.’ But I also didn’t know the climb very well, so I think I paced it all wrong. When he came like triple speed next to me just on the top, I was like, ‘What’s going on? Is this a spectator coming past me?’ But yeah, I quickly realised that for sure he knows this climb and he put a strong effort. I was immediately focused on him there and I knew that he’s on a good day.”

On the sinuous descent, meanwhile, Pogačar suffered a fright of a different kind. After moving past a hesitant Mas, he drifted off the road on a corner, but he managed to stay upright and right his course almost immediately.

“It was very steep indeed, and I knew it was a very dangerous downhill and shit road,” Pogačar said. “But when people tell you it’s a risk, you can’t really know until you’re there yourself. 

“This downhill was not really suitable for taking good lines and you just brake as much as you can. I think Enric did a small mistake, so I passed him and I was thinking, ‘OK, I’ll take my own line down,’ and yeah, that was a mistake. I’m just glad and happy that I stayed on the bike. It could easily have been a big crash for me. I’m just happy I was back on the road quickly.”

It was a day where Pogačar displayed rare moments of vulnerability, and yet it still ended with the usual outcome. He beat Mas by the proverbial street in the sprint in Castelló to claim his 22nd victory of a season that keeps on giving. 

Pogačar also extended his overall advantage, which now stands at 3:34 over Mas, while he gained 46 seconds on the remainder of his GC rivals, with Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) now third at 4:21.