SAINT GERVAIS, France — Slovenian Tadej Pogacar echoed rival Jonas Vingegaard in saying he understood scepticism about outstanding performances on the Tour de France in a sport that has been marred by doping scandals in the past.
“I understand, I always get this question every year on the Tour,” the 2020 and 2021 Tour winner told a news conference when asked if he understood why his performances and that of defending champion Vingegaard had come under scrutiny.
Dane Vingegaard, who leads Pogacar by 10 seconds after two weeks of racing, said he thought scepticism was a good thing for the sport.
“We are riding fast, I must say that every stage we go full gas and it’s hard but I understand people asking questions because of what happened in the past,” Pogacar said.
“Some people don’t get over it and I completely understand them,” Pogacar added according to Reuters.
Asked about Vingegaard’s and Pogacar’s awe-inspiring displays, Thibaut Pinot, third in the 2014 Tour de France and fifth in this year’s Giro, said: “It’s so hard to assess. The bikes go faster, the (improvement) on nutrition in the last 10 years.
“When you look at the bikes from 20 years ago, you wonder how they were doing it.”
Dutch cyclist Wout Poels celebrated his first career grand tour stage win as the slopes of Mont Blanc failed to find any difference between Tour de France leader Jonas Vingegaard and his rival Pogacar.
Poels, 35, was the last survivor of a big breakaway group that got clear after a crash caused by a spectator reshaped the 179km stage 15 from Les Gets to Saint-Gervais.
Six minutes after the Bahrain-Victorious rider crossed the line, Vingegaard and Pogacar came home shoulder to shoulder.
Pogacar was guided towards the summit by team-mate Adam Yates but then gradually let the wheel go, seemingly unable to follow as Vingegaard stayed in his shadow.
With Jai Hindley having faded, Rodriguez strengthened his grip on third place, with Yates moving up to fourth.
Asked if he had planned to drop Pogacar on the climb, Yates said: “Not really. We had a few issues with the radio. But I’m still high on (general classification) and if Tadej lets me go then Jumbo-Visma have to chase, so it’s kind of still in our favour.
The peloton had been closely following a series of breakaway attempts in the early part of the stage but, when a young spectator in the road was struck by Vingegaard’s team-mate Sepp Kuss 50km in, around a dozen riders went down, slowing the main group and allowing almost 40 riders to get away.
“There was a narrowing in the town and a spectator in the road, and I guess he just clipped my handlebars,” said Kuss, his elbow heavily bandaged. “Luckily I’m OK and hopefully the other guys in the crash are all right. It’s not ideal.
“I think it’s fatigue. It’s been such a hard race and everybody is a bit tired, you lose a bit of alertness and there’s always things out of your control as well.”
