Strong UAE team in the Tour even intimidates Pogacar, who discusses Vingegaard, Roglic, Evenepoel, and (even) Mollema

A royal visitor for the Watts Occuring-podcast hosted by Geraint Thomas and Luke Rowe: Giro winner Tadej Pogacar joined for a chat with the two men from Wales, discussing his Giro d'Italia experience, the upcoming Tour de France, and the time in between. "The strength of our team in the Tour? It actually intimidates me too, haha!"

"Not much" is what Pogacar did after his victory in Italy. While Thomas and Rowe were busy with family outings to the forest and soccer field, he mostly spent his time lounging and ordering food with his girlfriend, Urska Zigart. "The first thing I ate was a fried pizza," Pogacar chuckled, while Thomas reportedly opted for a good burger and curry.

This Tuesday, Pogacar begins his Tour de France preparations, starting his high-altitude training at Isola 2000, slightly later than planned, just like Thomas. "You guys got that nice chalet there, right?" he joked with the INEOS Grenadiers leader. His seven Tour domestiques will join him after their own prep races, ensuring they're all peak condition by late June. "It’s perfect since some of the Tour stages are in that area, including the Col de la Bonette."

In July, Pogacar will be supported by Adam Yates, Joao Almeida, Juan Ayuso, Marc Soler, Pavel Sivakov, Tim Wellens, and Nils Politt. A formidable star team, but how will roles be distributed at UAE-Team Emirates? "Yates is my right-hand man, while Ayuso and Almeida will be sort of luxury domestiques in the mountains. Soler and Sivakov are the strong climbers for the mountains, but they can also do their bit on the flat. And then there’s Wellens and Politt, our powerhouses. It actually intimidates me too, haha!'

This team will face competitors including Thomas, Egan Bernal, Carlos Rodriguez from INEOS Grenadiers, but also Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel, and Primoz Roglic. "I think Vingegaard will be ready. He was able to cycle again pretty soon after he left the hospital, so I think he'll be in good shape at the start," Pogacar assesses.

"Evenepoel will also be very motivated, but the same goes for Roglic. They all have every reason to start the Tour in top condition," continues the leader of UAE-Team Emirates, who may strike as early as the grueling opening weekend. "It’s a tough start, but I haven’t thought about it much yet."

"Last year in Bilbao we were very aggressive, but maybe we weren’t in the right shape yet. We need to think about how we'll approach it," Pogacar adds. "The first day is immediately 210 kilometers with four climbs, and on day two we have San Luca and then the Galibier on day four. However, we also can’t forget the extremely brutal final weekend. Evenepoel will be looking at the start, but Roglic will also be focusing on the last days and mainly seeing how things go."

While Thomas is still going strong at 38, Pogacar has many years ahead of him. Like Mathieu van der Poel, however, he doubts whether he'll continue cycling until that age. "I don’t think it will be for me. Some other riders will do it, take someone like Bauke Mollema: he just signed a pretty good, long contract. Hats off. Imagine if you were to sign for another four years now, G. These days you're considered old by 34."