Tadej Pogacar makes an admission after Alpe d’Huez

The Slovenian is still second in the overall standings

Those who expected a reaction from Tadej Pogacar after Wednesday’s disappointment on the Alpe d’Huez climb were half satisfied: the Slovenian, in fact, held his own against yellow jersey Jonas Vingegaard, finishing in the same small group that arrived more than 3′ behind stage winner Pidcock, but he did not look like the dominant Pogacar of the last two editions of the Grande Boucle.

At the end of the stage, to ‘L’Equipe,’ Pogacar admitted he felt the backlash from yesterday: “I wasn’t as confident as I wanted to be,” he said, “I think I could have done better. The feelings today, however, were good.”

“I expected the Jumbo-Visma people to control the race, they have a very good team,” Pogacar went on to explain, talking about the team supporting Vingegaard. “When I tried to attack, Jonas never counterattacked, which I would have liked because it would have allowed me to respond in turn. He simply followed me, and I was not fast enough to create a gap.”

“However, the road is still long, I am ready for the stages to come. I know why I suffered on Wednesday, I spent too much energy climbing the Galibier. It won’t happen again. Jonas is super strong but we will both fight until the end,” concluded the Slovenian.