Tadej Pogacar stands firm against 'annoying' Visma attacks at Tour de France

Tadej Pogačar has described Visma | Lease a Bike's attacking approach on stage 10 of the Tour de France as 'annoying', when speaking to RTV Slovenia post stage. 

With rolling attacks from Sepp Kuss and Matteo Jorgenson in the finale of the stage, it was clear that Visma's tactic was to try and isolate the yellow jersey, which they successfully achieved towards the summit of the penultimate climb, the Col de la Croix Robert. 

However, Pogačar remained unflustered, locked to the wheel of Jorgenson whenever he accelerated, and even launched a rocket of his own on the final climb.

"They were a bit annoying with all the attacks, so I decided to make a better attack," Pogačar said to RTV Slovenia post-stage. 

Despite being isolated on the final climb of the stage, Pogačar launched an attack which distanced all but Vingegaard, however, the World Champion didn't seem to have wasted much energy with his effort, such is his imperious nature.

Eventually, Pogačar and Vingegaard found themselves in a stalemate, following the wheel of Lenny Martinez, who had been swept up from the breakaway, and crossed the line side by side, with the Dane offering a handshake to which the Slovenian accepted. 

"I saw that Lenny Martinez was ahead of me from the break, and I got on his wheel and crossed the finish line behind him. It means a lot more to him than it does to me."

Despite being isolated in the closing stages, Pogačar credited his teammates for the work they did throughout the stage, particularly as their resources had been depleted over the last 24 hours with the loss of key lieutenant João Almeida who abandoned the race on stage 9 after suffering from the effects of a nasty crash on stage 7. 

Tim Wellens, Nils Politt, and Marc Soler spent a tireless amount of kilometres controlling the time gap to the breakaway, and Adam Yates was key in initially closing some of the attacks made by Visma.

"Of course, it's never easy to lose the yellow jersey. However, we lost João Almeida yesterday, and Pavel Sivakov is still recovering from his illness." 

Pogačar may have lost the yellow jersey on stage 10 of the Tour de France due to Ben Healy's (EF Education-EasyPost) breakaway exploits, but the World Champion is content with the outcome of the stage and his team's overall performance with the depleted resources.

"The goal was not to let Visma attack us or to defend their attacks. We did a great job, but now it's a day off, and it's good that I don't have the yellow jersey," Pogačar said. 

"Honestly, I'm most happy not to be talking to journalists," Pogačar explained, as the fact that he is no longer the leader of any classification will take the load off some of his media duties in the coming days.

Pogačar and the rest of the Tour de France peloton will enjoy a well-deserved rest day on Tuesday before racing resumes in Toulouse on Wednesday.