Southam: We're not waving the white flag and riding for second in the Tour de France

TIGNES FRANCE JULY 04 Rigoberto Urn of Colombia and Team EF Education Nippo Richard Carapaz of Ecuador and Team INEOS Grenadiers Enric Mas of Spain and Movistar Team during the 108th Tour de France 2021 Stage 9 a 1449km stage from Cluses to Tignes Monte de Tignes 2107m Public Fans LeTour TDF2021 on July 04 2021 in Tignes France Photo by Chris GraythenGetty Images
Rigoberto Urán (EF Education-Nippo) leads the GC group on stage 9 in Tignes (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)

EF Education-Nippo directeur sportif Tom Southam does not believe that riders inside the top ten will simply surrender their yellow jersey ambitions and concentrate on the fight for the minor places in this year's Tour de France, even if Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) is currently in a different league to the opposition and dominating the race.

The Slovenian, and defending champion, currently leads the race from Ben O'Connor in second at 2:01, with EF's own Rigoberto Urán third at 5:18. Less than a minute separates third to eighth in the overall standings, and while Pogačar is currently a cut above, Southam believes that there's still much at play – especially with two weeks of the race still remaining.

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Daniel Benson

Daniel Benson was the Editor in Chief at Cyclingnews.com between 2008 and 2022. Based in the UK, he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based Managing Editor. In that time, he reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France, several World Championships, the Tour Down Under, Spring Classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. With the help of the excellent editorial team, he ran the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.