'They give us more power' - Pogacar shrugs off boos to extend Tour dominance

There is still more than half of the Tour to race, but Pogačar’s looks destined to claim a record-equalling fifth victory in Paris. Such crushing dominance has always divided opinion at the Tour, and Pogačar noted that he and his UAE Team Emirates-XRG team had been subject to some boos on Bastille Day.

“Thanks to all the fans that they came today to the road and it was an amazing atmosphere, even though there was some booing. To all the guys that were booing, they give us more power,” Pogačar said in his flash interview afterwards.

On the same finale two years ago, Pogačar attacked from distance on the climb of Puy Mary, but he was caught by Vingegaard on the following Col de Pertus and then beaten by the Dane in a two-up sprint at Le Lioran.

This time out, Pogačar cut his cloth accordingly, leaving his ineluctable acceleration until near the top of the Pertus. He proceeded to win the stage by 32 seconds from a dogged Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), while Vingegaard lost a further ten seconds after dragging the chasers up the final climb.

Pogačar admitted afterwards that he had expressly targeted stage victory here, which explained UAE’s eagerness to keep such a tight leash on the break.

“Today was an incredible day, the team did a super good job,” Pogačar said. “We targeted this stage since a long time ago. And yeah, it also happens that two years ago, Jonas beat me in the sprint fair and square. Today I had similar legs at the finish, completely destroyed, but I enjoyed the day. In the final I didn’t know I was going to win until the last kilometre and then I remembered it’s Bastille Day and tried to honour the yellow jersey.”

Not for the first time on this Tour, Pogačar complained of issues with his radio earpiece, though it’s difficult to imagine that the instructions of his UAE sports directors would have made any material difference to this latest exhibition.

Pogačar has now racked up 24 stage wins at the Tour from his seven appearances, and he has brought his tally of days in the yellow jersey up to 60.

“It’s funny, today we were trying new radios, and when there was too much public, I didn’t hear anything in the radio,” Pogačar said. “In the last the last 10km, I didn’t know what was the gap, who was doing what. All I had in my mind was to try to keep pushing to the top. 

“I knew it very well. We also did a recon yesterday, but there was also a little bit of doubt in my head since two years ago when Jonas came, and I was empty to do the sprint. For sure I had this in my head also until the final few hundred metres.”

Although Pogačar looked as impregnable as ever, there were rare signs of wear from his UAE team, who briefly surrendered the pace-making to Vingegaard’s Visma teammate Davide Piganzoli on the Col de Pertus. 

Pogačar’s teammate Isaac del Toro, meanwhile, was distanced after his acceleration on the Pertus, and he dropped from third to seventh overall, losing the white jersey to former UAE man Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek).

“I think so far, the Tour was perfect for me, for the team, it’s suited us really well,” Pogačar said. “Today, for example, it was perfect climbs for each one of the riders in the team, so everybody could do their job. In the end, I could finish it off. Isaac did super good and tried to follow the rest. He’s a fighter and he’s also there now fighting for a top spot.”

Pogačar looks increasingly secure in the yellow jersey, though he downplayed the extent of his dominance. 

“Like I said, you never know how long it lasts,” he said. “We just need to be grateful for this moment, to be riding on here, the biggest race of the world.”