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Tadej Pogačar knows a thing or two about the endless misery that Primoz Roglič has endured at the Tour de France over the past few years. After all, in 2020, Pogsar won his first Tour, snatching the yellow jersey from his compatriot in the most excruciating of conditions at La Planche des Belles Filles.
Roglič’s subsequent outings on the Tour have been even more cursed. A year later, his rematch with Pogačar ended before it could begin due to an accident in the early stages. In 2022, another accident forced Roglič to hand over the leadership of Jumbo-Visma to Jonas Winggaard.
On Thursday, Roglic’s latest attempt to climb the boulders back up the mountain was foiled by a crash barely a dozen kilometers from the end of stage 12 in Villeneuve-sur-Lot. The Slovenian would reach the finish line 2:27 minutes later. The full extent of his injuries is unknown, but the damage to his overall hopes is already clear. Now ranked 6th overall at 4:42, Roglic will not win the 2024 Tour.
Like most riders in the peloton, Pogačar felt the crash rather than witnessing it firsthand. Not every man in such a final had time to assess the loss for himself, amid the noise. It was only when he reached the podium area that Pogačar learned from UAE Team Emirates staff that his teammate, the Slovenian, was the main victim of the accident.
“I heard something from the back of the pack, but in that moment, you can’t look around, so you just know that something happened, but not how many people went down or exactly what happened,” Pogsar said. “
“As soon as I crossed the finish line, my people told me that Primoz had crashed and lost time, so I was in a real shock. It was really rubbish news, bad news. I was really disappointed for him. “I’m really sad for him that he crashed and lost time, because he’s been looking better every day on this Tour.”
Roglič had already suffered defeat at the hands of Le Lioran in Wednesday’s breathless stage final, but emerged without any permanent injury to his man and without causing undue damage to his overall hopes. As the crash occurred within the final 3 km, Roglic was awarded the same time as the man he was riding with, Remco Evenepoel, only 25 seconds behind Pogacar and Wingegaard.
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No such relief was received on Thursday. Roglič was the least confident of the four main contenders at this point, but that did not mean he was completely out of the running. Red Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe management had stressed that their training was tailored to the long climbs still to come. Now the issue may be controversial.
“I think he was coming on really strong the second week, so it really sucks for him,” Pogsar said. “I wish him all the best. I hope he hasn’t injured himself and he can continue. Everyone knows he’s a big fighter. I wish him all the best for his recovery in the next phase. Maybe he’ll be a Charan can win the stage and still come close to GC. But we will see.”
Jonas Wingegaard and Tadej Pogačar (Image credit: Getty Images)
Pogačar, for his part, reached home safely in the main peloton to retain the yellow jersey and maintain his buffer of 1:06 over Evenepoel and 1:14 over Vinggaard. If the first sprint stages in this race were relatively sluggish, this race through the heavy, winding roads of Lot was much more heated. ,As for the sprint stage, today was one of the best for me,” said Pogačar. “It was quite a fast pace, up and down, and I enjoyed the road.”
Of more interest was what Pogsar had to say about a different kind of tumultuous day. When Pogasar attacked Puy Marie on Wednesday, it looked as if he was about to take a permanent lease on his land. maillot jaune, Instead, his ownership of the jersey seems less certain after Vinggaard closed a gap of 35 seconds and then surprisingly beat him on the stage in a two-up sprint.
On Thursday evening in Villeneuve-sur-Lot, Pogsar revealed he had taken the rare step of watching the stage back on television. Wyngaard’s withdrawal must have been a blow to Pogačar’s morale, but he came away from the viewing with a surprisingly upbeat assessment of his performance on Stage 11.
“I don’t usually watch TV coverage or anything much, but yesterday I had time in the room and I checked it out and analyzed it,” Pogsar said. “I could see where Jonas saved his legs and where I couldn’t. That was one of the key moments.
“I had a great day yesterday, but I think Jonas had one of the best days of his career yesterday, I would say – or maybe close to his best. For me, I was constantly on the pedals. “They got Primoz’s help on the slopes after Puy Marie, it all adds up.”
After another relatively flat race up to Pau on Friday afternoon, the Tour enters a new stage at the weekend with a doubleheader in the Pyrenees. Back-to-back summit finishes at the Pla d’Edette and the Plateau de Beille will reveal much about the direction this race will travel.
“We will see again in the Pyrenees,” Pogsar said. “It is going to be a great fight. But now I am quite comfortable in yellow. He needs to attack. we will see.”
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