Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) is relishing the chance to race key Tour de France rivals Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) for the first time since last year's Tour at the Critérium du Dauphiné, admitting he's hoping "we can battle it out."
The world champion was as relaxed as ever as he spoke to international media over a video call on Saturday, with his cap turned backwards and his typically laid-back personality shining through in his answers, but he did offer somewhat of an ominous warning when the question of his numbers came up.
Pogačar spoke of his lack of a real peak or trough throughout the majority of the road season, nonchalantly reeling off all the months when his numbers are at a high level.
His best is what his rivals will be expecting at the Dauphiné, and despite being out of the stage racing arena since February's UAE Tour, it sounds like the rainbow bands will be in full flight throughout the eight days of the pre-Tour de France form marker.
"At the moment, the numbers and training for me are good. In December, in February, April, all year round, they are quite good. Maybe in November, they're not the best, but yeah, I'm pretty happy with the numbers," said Pogačar, after confirming he was roughly on the plan that was scheduled two years ago before he broke his wrist in Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
"More or less, this year is similar to 2023, but then I broke my hand and could not train like I wanted. So it's the first time for me coming out of a proper Classics season and restarting different training.
"I was in Sierra Nevada quite early, doing really quality training. So far, I think the lead-in training to the Dauphine was good. Now we'll get some speed in the legs, and then we'll see what we can improve. "I think I'm on the right track, and we will see quite soon if the numbers and the legs are good."
Vingegaard crashed out of Paris-Nice in March and hasn't raced since, with his last duel with Pogačar being 11 months in the past now. The Dauphiné brings them back in direct competition, with a battle in the high mountains on next Saturday's stage 7 expected to be the highlight.
The Dane said last week, "If I were racing without Tadej, it wouldn't be the same, and hopefully, he feels the same the other way around," speaking to Eurosport. "I actually enjoy having a rival like him."
Pogačar concurred on Saturday as he was asked by Danish media about his Tour rival.
"I'm really looking forward to racing him. He looks in good shape, from what I saw. So I think, yeah, we can expect that he will be at a super good level," said the world champion. "
"I'm really looking forward to seeing that because he had a tough spring. I hope we can battle it out, but I also cannot forget about the others. It's not just focused on Jonas, Remco, for example. We'll see how it goes.
"It's going to be fun to watch on the TV, and I hope also fun to race if there are good legs."
Pogačar, surprisingly, has only raced the Dauphiné once before in his career – in 2020, before his first, dramatic Tour de France triumph. On that occasion, he finished fourth overall, so he knows the result won't be the be-all and end-all for the Tour.
He's trying to take some of the pressure off, as the expected favourite, but everyone knows he will be there to win and lay a marker down ahead of the Tour's Grand Départ in Lille on July 5.
"Of course, the competition here is amazing, almost the same as the Tour de France for the GC. There are some hard stages and a time trial, but I have to remind myself that I'm coming from a big training block and that, yeah, we are tapering more for the Tour," said Pogačar.
"If something goes wrong so that I don't win this race, I need to let go of this pressure; that is all on me. I have to try to enjoy the race, see how the legs are turning, and try, of course, to be as good as possible and win.
"But a lot of times we saw that Dauphine is not always the true indicator of where you will finish at through Tour de France, so let's, let's kick it off tomorrow with a good start, hope everything goes smoothly.
"I hope we have some great battles on the climbs and in the time trial, but yeah, with not too much stress, and not too much pressure."
