Tadej Pogačar 'cannot wait to finally hit the mountains' amid 'boring' stretch of Tour de France stages
Yellow jersey 'happy with how I rode' as he limits his losses to Remco Evenepoel in stage 7 time trial
Having shown himself to be the strongest yellow jersey contender in the Tour de France through the vital pair of hilly and mountainous stages during the race's first week, race leader Tadej Pogačar made it through the stage 7 time trial unscathed, too.
The Slovenian was expected to lose time to world time trial champion Remco Evenepoel on the 25.3km run from Nuits-Saint-Georges to Gevrey-Chambertin, and possibly even cede the race lead altogether.
However, the last man out on course crossed the line with a mere 12-second deficit to the Belgian, who has emerged as his closest GC rival through one-third of the race.
Having blasted between the vineyards and crossed the finish line in another tiny French village into which the world's biggest bike race had inexplicably crammed itself, Pogačar sped past the waiting press, quickly downed a drink handed over by his soigneur, and prepared for a now familiar round of post-stage media duties.
"Today, we saw some good legs, some good times," Pogačar said in the press conference. "I can be happy with how the shape is and how much shape is. But we cannot draw any conclusions from today. Most of the Tour is still ahead of us and a lot can happen.
"For sure, we saw Remco, as always, the best time trialist in the race, and Jonas Vingegaard and Primož Roglič did super good as well. I think it's quite close, so we need to wait and see about the proper mountain stages coming in the last three days."
While he'd shed a dozen seconds to Evenepoel, who now lies 33 seconds off the lead, Pogačar did manage to make time on his other closest rivals, with Roglič coming home in third, having lost 22 seconds, and Vingegaard, having faded on the final run to the finish, another three seconds back.
Overall, it was a positive day out for the Slovenian, who now has 1:15 on Vingegaard and 1:36 on Roglič. His UAE Team Emirates teammates Juan Ayuso and João Almeida follow close behind at 2:16 and 2:17 down.
"I'm happy with how I rode today, how my legs were turning," Pogačar said. "To make time on Jonas, and Primož is for me considered really good because I know they are in good shape, and I know that in next week's mountain stages, they will also both be good. For sure, we will see a lot of attacking and interesting racing in the mountains."
Pogačar has the 199km trek through the gravel and hills around Troyes on stage 9 to look forward to before hitting the mountains in the Pyrenees on stage 14 next week. He said he's looking forward to the stage, even if the gravel could throw up surprises and unexpected variables in the race.
"I'm kind of looking forward to it. I did the recon, so I know what's waiting for us," he said. "I would say it's not the most fun stage, but it depends how we race, depends on the wind, depends on the weather, and depends on what the peloton wants to do.
"I think there can be a lot of variation in how the race can go, but I think I'm ready for all and let's see. Normally, I like this kind of stage, but you never know what can happen. Let's see."
But he's most looking forward to those late mountain stages, his natural habitat. Summit finishes at Pla d'Adet, the Plateau de Beille, Isola 2000, and the Col de la Couillole cannot come soon enough, with those decisive climbs set to be the real deciders of this year's maillot jaune.
Pogačar praised the Tour's Grande Partenza and said he "cannot wait" to return to the Pyrenees and Alps, saying that at the moment "there's nothing to look forward to" in the race.
"I must say that this year's Tour de France is a bit strange," Pogačar said. "We had a fun first four days, but now this week is a little bit like there's nothing to look forward to. If there wasn't a time trial today, then it would be a really boring, strange Tour with flat stages where nobody wants to go in the breakaway.
"Tomorrow is another stressful day, then another stressful day, then it's a rest day, then it's another stressful day, another stressful day. And then we slowly enter the mountains. Right now, I'm feeling quite great, and I cannot wait to finally hit the proper mountains."
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Dani Ostanek is Senior News Writer at Cyclingnews, having joined in 2017 as a freelance contributor and later being hired full-time. Before joining the team, she had written for numerous major publications in the cycling world, including CyclingWeekly and Rouleur. She writes and edits at Cyclingnews as well as running newsletter, social media, and how to watch campaigns.