'The war is over' - Pogacar poised for fourth Tour de France triumph

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) revealed that Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike) declared 'the war is over' following Saturday's stage 20 of the Tour de France to Pontarlier, with the world champion now just one final stage away from sealing his fourth yellow jersey victory. The Slovenian will carry a commanding 4:24 lead over his arch-rival Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) and is set to defend his title in Paris on Sunday.

"To be honest, I feel a bit more relaxed even though tomorrow we still need to be like full focus, full concentration through Paris, but what makes me a bit relieved is that Jonas [Vingegaard] came to me, Wout [Van Aert] came to me, and they congratulate to each other, and Wout [Van Aert] said the 'war is over' so I was like okay, we were in war and now it's over so I'm a bit relieved for sure, but tomorrow is still final day," Pogačar said.

Pogačar described the racing on Saturday's rain-soaked stage 20, won by Kaden Groves, as relentless, with challenging conditions making the stage particularly demanding, and there was no relaxation from the leader on the day.

"Today was full gas racing, the first two hours in the rain, hilly terrain, left, right, it was still very dangerous today to lose the yellow jersey, and I'm happy that today is over and we go to Paris tomorrow," he added.

Looking ahead to Sunday's final stage, which features three ascents of the Montmartre climb, Pogačar remained non-committal about whether he would contest for the stage win, but the fact that he didn't rule it out illustrates the importance that the GC riders will place on staying well-positioned in the finale to be caught out.

"Well, we have a good team for tomorrow, but it's not really like a classics race, it's still quite short, we will see. I know we are all tired, we will see after we cross the first lap in Paris how we feel and if we try to play the game in the end or stay in the back, relax and enjoy Paris," Pogačar explained. 

The world champion also reflected on the support from his UAE Team Emirates-XRG colleagues throughout the race, noting the loss of João Almeida, who succumbed to his injuries from a crash on stage 7 to Mûr du Bretagne.

"I'm really sad that we lost Joao, because it would make the last week a bit less stressful, we could've aim for another really good GC spot and win the Alps, but we will never know, the rest of the team were top notch from day one until the very last kilometres they were there with me, without them, this Tour would be very miserable. I'm so happy to be part of our group."

Pogačar further emphasised the difficulty of this year's race, which has been marked by relentless intensity from the opening stage where crosswinds caused havoc, to the explosive battles in the hills of Northern France, the Slovenian's dominance in the Pyrenees and the brutal conditions in the Alps. Ultimately, it will end with the inevitable outcome, a victorious Pogačar. 

"Every year we say 'it's the hardest Tour ever', the hardest thing we've ever done, it's all so crazy, but honestly, I know that this year was something on another level. There was maybe one day that we went a bit easier, if you look on the power files throughout the whole Tour, it's been really amazing and really though," Pogačar said. 

"Even today we almost did all-out from start to finish, and I must say that even though it was one of the toughest ones I ever did, I enjoyed it, because I had good shape and good legs, and I'm really looking forward for the last day tomorrow," he added.