'No stress for the Tour de France' – Tadej Pogacar downplays time trial setback at Dauphiné

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) has played down the significance of time lost during stage 4's individual time trial at the Critérium du Dauphiné to key rivals Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quickstep) and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike), insisting his focus remains on Tour de France preparation rather than the race result in the Dauphiné.

"I would prefer not to have lost so much time, but thinking about the whole picture for the Tour de France, I think there is no stress," Pogačar told reporters before the start of stage 5.

The world champion finished fourth in Wednesday's 17.4 kilometre individual time trial, conceding 48 seconds to Evenepoel and 28 seconds to Vingegaard, respectively. Despite the setback, Pogačar maintained a positive outlook on his performance. "It was a nice time trial, pretty hot out there, and, yeah, a little bit disappointed that I lost so much time. But I think in the end, I can look positively on yesterday," he said. "Still some improvements to do on the time trial bike. So, pretty solid day out there - I think."

Pogačar acknowledged that his time-trial preparation has taken a back seat to other priorities in his build-up to the Tour de France in July and has explained how his busy schedule has played its part in this.

"Because of the classic season, I was more focused on just making a good base in the altitude and preparing for the big mountains and the big grand tour. So that was maybe a little bit lacking in the time trial," he explained. "We analysed pretty good yesterday, where we lost time. So I think we can also improve that for the tour."

When asked about Evenepoel's dominant performance, Pogačar wasn't surprised by the Belgian's superiority in the time-trial discipline, as the Belgian is the current Olympic and World champion in the discipline.

"He's always so good in the time trial, so I was kind of expecting him to be flying so much," Pogačar said. "I was impressed, like the first seven kilometres, I lost so much time to Remco and, I mean, also to Jonas, but then I kind of went really good on the climb, and also downhill."

With the three hardest stages to come in the French Alps, the general classification is far from over at the Dauphiné for Pogačar and the Slovenian hasn't ruled out an combative mindset at the weekend to dethrone Evenepoel but has stressed that he won't compromise his Tour preparation for short-term success.

"I will see how I feel for sure. After yesterday, directly after the finish, I was disappointed. I was thinking, okay, now I'll go all in for the weekend, but we'll see, I'm in no rush," he said.

While a GC victory at the Critérium du Dauphiné remains a career ambition, as one of only a few big races left to tick off for Pogačar, the three-time Tour de France champion has clear priorities. "For sure, I want to win the Dauphiné one day, but if it's not this time, I will not stress because I really want to be in top shape for the tour."