Tadej Pogacar ‘ready for anything’ in fight for yellow jersey with Jonas Vingegaard at Tour de France

Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates) says he is prepared for anything Jumbo-Visma will throw at him in the remainder of the Tour de France.

Pogacar currently trails the yellow jersey of Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) by 17 seconds ahead of Stage 10.

“I feel that I have some sort of momentum, but I don’t know if it’s over Jonas. I just feel good every day,” Pogacar said. “Today was a good rest day and I’m ready to go racing again tomorrow. I’m really happy so far with this Tour and feeling better day by day.”

One journalist told Pogacar that Jumbo-Visma had said that his climb up the Puy de Dome was some of his finest – if not his very best – 35 minutes of climbing.

Pogacar hit back: “They don’t know all my trainings or all my race data. They don’t know how much I weigh, they don’t know a lot about me… I mean, they can assume, but I can tell you it was one of the good [days] but could be better.”

He continued: “I think they will try everything to set up for one stage and try to crack me again but now we’ll see.

“I have good enough motivation to be prepared for everything. I’m ready for all their tactics. I try to be ready for anything they do.”

The Slovenian believes he is benefitting from his experience.

He said: “Now I’ve done three Tours de France and each Tour gives you experience. It’s the most important race of the year.

“It’s nice to win a race with 50km solo but on Tour de France you need to know there are three weeks and each day you can pay the price for the effort you make one day before. In a three-week race, you need to race with your head. You cannot just go crazy in one day.”

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