🎥 Training, feeling bored, and a turtle tattoo: Why Pogacar and UAE annoyed the peloton by waving and laughing

It was a bizarre sight: a leading group had already formed, and suddenly, UAE Team Emirates—XRG reacted. Tadej Pogacar and Domen Novak chose to attack. They were joined by defending champion Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto), among others, so suddenly, there were some big names in the leading group.

This resulted in a fast pace because the peloton did not want to let such big names ride away. The leading group and the peloton eventually caught up: Novak could be seen playfully waving to the peloton in the opposite direction while Josef Cerny incredulously waved back. This resulted in the fastest stage in the history of the UAE Tour, with an average speed of over 48 kilometers per hour.

Afterward, Pogacar could not complain about his little adventure. "Of course, it wasn't the plan. Domen and I were returning from a pit stop, and we just happened to ride to the head of the pack. I thought back to the Vuelta a Catalunya, where Domen and I attacked the peloton. Then there were just the two of us; it was just a bit of fun. Today, some riders followed us, and we formed a breakaway. Then, we just had to keep going. It was a fun day."

So could it be considered a kind of training? The world champion had to put in more effort than when in the peloton. "I don't know. He stated casually, I don't care if it doesn't pay off in five years. "I was prepared for the race. For example, we had to do the same work if there were echelons. I was prepared for anything. Today, we had a little training; tomorrow, I hope for a leisurely ride."

Pogacar's presence caused quite a bit of unrest in the peloton. "Today was a good day for ninety percent of the peloton, but more people had to work because I was in the leading group. They had to rotate, but we shared the load today. Otherwise, we would still be in the heat. Better to finish in three hours than four and a half hours," the Slovenian winked.

The same reaction followed during a press conference after the stage to Cyclingnews, among others. They also spoke to Novak. "We spoke to the guys, and it was not too hard, so we stayed about 100km in the break. Did I get a reaction when I waved? I don't know. Nobody said anything, but I think a lot of teams pulled behind. We were 12 guys and not such strong riders, but we worked well, and I think it was also not easy in the peloton."

"Tadej likes to enjoy, and he plays with it like that. I think he can, and it was just like this. I enjoyed it too," Novak continued. When asked, UAE teammate Mikkel Bjerg agreed. "The break already went, and Tadej, I think said it was kind of a joke, then suddenly they had the gap with Van Eetvelt [also there], and then I think they just went. No [it was not planned], it was just instinct I guess and maybe he was hoping a few more would follow. If Tadej doesn't do something like that, it will be an easy day for him. He is focused on what he has to do in this race."

In addition to the search for challenge and enjoyment in the race, Pogacar finally put one more argument for his breakaway attempt on the table during the press conference: "I'm not a betting person, but today there was a bet involved with Florian Vermeersch. We find a nickname for Florian from one cartoon - Frankie the turtle, a cartoon turtle. He said: if you win today, I'll get a tattoo of Franklin on my arm."

Vermeersch will have let out a sigh of relief...