'I hope he spent a bit of energy' - Pogacar unfazed by Pidcock's podium charge at Tour

By day’s end, Pidcock had moved up to fourth place overall after the break finished more than seven minutes clear of the peloton. Although Pidcock is firmly back in contention for a podium finish, he remains 4:15 behind Pogačar, who played a straight bat when asked about the threat posed by the Briton.

“For sure, he’s a contender but I hope he spent a bit of energy today,” Pogačar told France Télévisions. “We will see tomorrow how he responds after a big day today. Tomorrow there will be a lot of tired legs, not just for the riders who were in the break but also from the peloton.”

Not for the first time on this Tour, the pace was relentless on the long road from Dole to Belfort, with some 55.5km covered in the first hour of racing. Although a break of some 57 riders eventually went clear, there was precious little respite, with winner Mauro Schmid (Jayco-Alula) averaging 49.999km/h despite the category 1 ascent of the Ballon d’Alsace in the finale.

“It was a super hard,” Pogačar said. “It was a flying day, almost 50k/h. It was a really hard day. We knew from the beginning that it would be difficult, but we managed it quite well.”

UAE placed Brandon McNulty and Tim Wellens in the break of the day, and they were both in the ten-man group that remained in front after the climb of the Ballon d’Alsace. Wellens’ attack with 16km to go was snuffed out by his companions, while he fell just short in his attempt to bridge up Schmid and Harold Tedaja (XDS-Astana) in the final kilometre. McNulty finished in fifth, while Wellens had to settle for ninth. 

Both men will surely be back squarely on domestique duty on Saturday, when the Tour stays in the Vosges for the demanding leg to Le Markstein. Pogačar won on the Tour’s last visit on the final weekend in 2023, though he had already surrendered overall victory to Jonas Vingegaard by that point.

This time around, Pogačar leads Vingegaard by 3:36 and he will be expected to buttress that advantage over the weekend, which features tough finales at Le Markstein and Plateau de Solaison. Pogačar’s UAE team were largely spared the rigours of controlling the peloton on Friday, with Bahrain Victorious and Lidl-Trek springing into action in a bid to limit Pidcock’s ascent in the overall standings.

“I think tomorrow is a big mountain day,” Pogačar said of the return to Le Markstein. “It will be really tough.”