Tadej Pogačar openly admitted his wrist injury had affected his Tour de France preparation, insisting Adam Yates is also a team leader at UAE Team Emirates, yet overall victory remains the goal for the next three weeks, with the Slovenian hinting that he will be aggressive right from the first day of racing around Bilbao on Saturday.
Pogačar revealed that two of the three bones in his wrist have healed but the scaphoid still needs more time but he has 70% mobility.
So will he be 100% ready for the tough opening first week?
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“We’ll see in the race,” Pogačar said in a final pre-race press conference. “I’ve done some good training in the last two weeks but I didn’t race, you normally do the Dauphine and or Suisse before the Tour de France but I only did the Slovenian nationals. I think my legs are good, mentality I’m super good, I hope I’m ready.
“I think this first week will be really tough and explosive, you have everything and so it’ll be interesting. When I saw the route I was really excited but after my injury, I’m a little bit unsure for the first week but I hope to have good legs.”
Pogačar did a reconnaissance ride of stage 1 around Bilbao with his UAE Team Emirates teammates on Thursday morning. It seemed to reignite his desire to race aggressively.
“We saw the final, it’ll be super explosive,” he said in perfect pro cycling speak. “There’ll be a big selection in the end, maybe 10 or 15 riders who can go for the stage win. If I’m ready, it could be a chance to take time but they cancelled the time bonuses on the last climb, so that’s eight seconds gone. But if during the Tour I can take seconds here and there, I’d like to do it.”
Due to his wrist injury, taking the yellow jersey early seemed less appealing this year.
“It’s best to get it on stage 20, like three years so there’s the least pressure,” Pogačar joked, looking back to his first Tour win in 2020 when he grabbed the yellow jersey from Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) in the mountain time trial to La Planches des Belles Filles.
“Of course, when there’s an opportunity in the Tour de France, you take it but you need to hold your horses. This first week I’m sure we’ll see a lot of racing and for sure stage 1 is a chance for GC riders to take yellow but then it’s a long way to keep it.”
Perhaps playing mind games, or perhaps out of genuine concern, Pogačar followed the team strategy revealed by team manager Mauro Gianetti of naming Adam Yates as a fellow team leader and protected rider at UAE Team Emirates for the Tour de France.
“I’m not 100% sure of my condition. I didn’t race pre-Tour, that’s what’s missing in my preparation. So it’s better to have two guys for GC than one,” Pogačar claimed.
“The team is the team, we’re all in this together. It doesn’t matter who is in front, we all want the same thing: to win the Tour de France. It doesn't matter who does it.”
Of course Pogačar is naturally ambitious. It is what makes him the great rider he is and helped him win the Tour de France in 2020 and 2021.
He sat on stage in front of an auditorium of the global media and responded to questions as calm and collected as ever. His tone of voice only changed from relaxed and calm to competitive when asked about Jumbo-Visma's 2022 domination.
“We have to focus on our race and do our thing. There are many other teams in the Tour, not just Jumbo, in cycling you need to focus on yourself,” he said with a blunter tone of voice.
“We learn from each race and especially each Grand Tour. Last year was a big experience. We’ll try to do better this year and try to win the Tour. I was strong enough to win but Jonas was stronger at one point. We’ll try to do our thing and win it.”
In the closest thing to a rival slapdown, Pogačar indicated he and Yates have the measure of Vingegaard.
“Jonas is the main guy for the Tour de France. He dominated in the Dauphiné and said he wasn’t in his best shape, so I can’t wait to see what he does in the Tour,“ Pogačar said with a layer of sarcasm.
“I didn’t race Dauphiné but Adam did after an altitude camp and was close to Jonas. We think we can be super strong together.”
