Pogacar experiences "one of the worst days on the bike": "Tried to eat, but nothing was getting into my legs"

Tadej Pogacar is done, depleted, exhausted. For two full weeks, the Slovenian of UAE Team Emirates was a formidable contender in this Tour de France and truly challenged Jonas Vingegaard, but after suffering a significant defeat in the time trial on Tuesday, Pogacar's body gave in the next day during the queen's stage. "I was completely spent."

The opening question in the flash interview - which Pogacar had to pause for due to his white young rider's jersey - was, of course: What happened? "I don't know. I tried to eat as much as possible, but nothing was getting into my legs. Everything remained in my stomach, which left me completely depleted after 3.5 hours of racing. I kept fighting because of the incredible support around me, but I did consider quitting earlier."

As for whether Pogacar's early crash had anything to do with his unique breakdown, "I don't know, it certainly didn't help. I don't know how it affected my body, but it wasn't a good day. I've never experienced something like this before, even in last year's stage to Granon, I was better than today," the still sharp climber says, referring to the day when Vingegaard cracked him in the Tour last year. "Today was one of my worst days on the bike, but I kept fighting until the finish."

Pogacar still hoping for stage win

In the end, early escapee Marc Soler was the one who dragged his leader over the climb on Wednesday, never leaving his side. Rafal Majka did the same a little further on for Adam Yates, who is currently in third place in the overall standings. Pogacar is now 7 minutes and 35 seconds behind leader Vingegaard, but he doesn't seem to mind much. "There's still a chance for a stage win in the penultimate stage, so I'm hoping to recover well. The team was incredibly strong today, so it would be great if we can finish with a stage victory on Saturday and have myself and Adam on the final podium."

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