Tadej Pogačar's stage 3 victory at the Tour de France and move into the yellow jersey sparked a debate about the dominance of his UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad, but Team Manager Mauro Gianetti told Cyclingnews that early success was all part of the master plan for Pogačar to win a fifth Tour in Paris.
Pogačar helped teammate Isaac del Toro win on stage 2 and finished second. On stage 3 over the Pyrenees to Les Angles, Del Toro payed back Pogačar by leading him out, before the Slovenian surged away to win the stage and take the yellow jersey from rival Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) thanks to better stage placings.
It was Pogačar's 22nd Tour stage victory, lifting him to fifth in the all-time list of winners with former great sprinter André Darrigade. He is 13 wins away from equalling the record set by Mark Cavendish.
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Some people questioned Pogačar's need for such early Tour dominance. French television commentators and experts were perhaps hoping Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost) would be allowed to stay and so see a French rider take yellow.
“They have every right to want to win, and they have the means to do so, but beyond that I don’t see what purpose it really serves,” former pro Thomas Voeckler said after following the stage on a motorbike.
Laurent Jalabert was more understanding.
“I think he dreams at night about winning races, and when he wakes up he says ‘I will win today'.
“However, the day when he has his wings clipped or he has a tough moment, he can’t expect help from whoever else."
Pogačar insisted that he was just trying to enjoy his racing.
"You need to enjoy the moment," he said on the Vélo Club French television post-stage show.
"We’re here to win, and everyone would do the same, I think. There’s still a long way to Paris, and you never know what happens, so you have to race in the moment."
Gianetti had a similar logical explanation, noting how rival team Visma-Lease a Bike helped UAE chase the breakaway.
"There was a chance to win the stage, the odds looked good, so we decided to go for it. Why not?" Gianetti told Cyclingnews on Tuesday.
"It took a long time for the breakaway to go clear and so everyone was tired, in the peloton and in the break. Visma helped us by keeping the break in check and so we decided to take advantage of the opportunity. They gave us an 'assist' as they say in football.
"When the break was unable to get away, Tadej, the other guys and the sports directors decided to go for it."
The yellow jersey came as a consequence, with Vingegaard losing two seconds in the surge to the line. Wearing the leader's jersey carries extra responsibilities but Pogačar, UAE and Gianetti have not lost sight of their final objective.
"The goal is to win the Tour and we have a strategy for that," Giannetti said.
"Winning stages can help you win the Tour de France. We were eight seconds down on Jonas Vingegaard after the team time trial, now we're equal on time. We're happy with that."
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