Tadej Pogacar in press conference during rest day for UAE Team Emirates, talking a lot about Jonas Vingegaard and his tactic.
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00:00Yeah, last year they were really confident in the final and now I think they're playing
00:12the same. They try to have this confidence for the final week. But I must say that it
00:21doesn't bother me because I'm way more confident in myself as well this year. And yeah, it's
00:27just... I like the way the race went until now. I have a yellow jersey, which feels good
00:39for me and I just do my own race. Normally, if everything goes smooth, I should have good
00:47legs next week and also in the final three days.
00:51Can you tell us about the conversations that you, Jonas and Remco had on the gravel parts
01:17in the battle yesterday, where it seemed like there were some frustrations and feelings
01:21towards each other?
01:23It's just normal in the race. There's not a lot of communication. It's just more gestures
01:29or whatever, just small words. But yeah, everybody knows what they need to do. And yesterday
01:38was a race like this. Me and Remco, we were eager to go to the finish line and also maybe
01:45fight for a stage win there. We were already in the winning break. But yeah, if Jonas doesn't
01:52contribute at all, then of course, yeah, stage win or gaining time on the other GC riders
02:02goes into the water. Then of course, you're not happy with this, but it's just the way it is.
02:08Yeah, it was still a nice race yesterday in the gravel. I was pretty good also. My legs
02:17were good and it was a pretty good day.
02:22Vasco, do you want to come in with a question for Tadej?
02:30Vasco from Portugal asks, Jonas, Fingerguide has been racing very close to you in the first
02:36week. Just from being close to him, do you get any impression of his shape?
02:40Yeah, already on stage two, when we went up to San Luca, we did best time up there. Even though
02:48if it's not the fastest approach, we still beat the record for 20 seconds. Jonas was pretty good
02:55holding on my wheels. I must say that Jonas' shape after stage two, we can see if you go that
03:07fast up to San Luca, your shape is pretty good. Also, the way he's riding in the peloton,
03:14following the wheels of teammates, always staying in the front, he's super focused,
03:17sharp. He's doing the downhills and taking risks in the bunch. I think he's pretty sharp and in
03:28very good shape.
03:31Thanks, Vasco.
03:31Joeri de Canop from Belgium says, are you satisfied with the gaps
03:36on your main rivals after the first nine days of the Tour?
03:39Yeah, I'm pretty satisfied. Last year, it was all the way around. I had to close down the gap to
03:46Jonas. I managed to come to minimum nine seconds, I think. It was a pain in the ass not to overcome,
03:55but this year is the other way around. I'm more comfortable now with the lead, 33 seconds ahead
04:05of Remco. It's not crazy a lot, but also the way he's riding, he's super close. We can see
04:15great battles on the next stages. Also, other guys, Jonas and Primoz are pretty close as well.
04:25It's better to be in the front at that point, for sure, but it's not crazy big gaps.
04:32Thank you. Vincent asks, did you think before the Tour that at this point you would have
04:36a bigger gap than Jonas?
04:39Honestly, I didn't know how good he is until they announced that he goes to the Tour. Then,
04:46when they announced that he's going to the Tour, for sure, he would not start if he wouldn't be
04:54in top shape. After the stage one and stage two, I already see that he's super good.
05:10That I cannot take crazy gaps. I don't know why should I have a bigger gap when he's somebody so
05:23good. Daniel Fried, broadcaster from MyTV4, comes in with, Jonas said this morning that he wasn't
05:31as strong last year and maybe you seem a bit stronger. Is that a fair assessment?
05:36I don't think so. I think they tried to downplay a little bit, but just like I said before,
05:45Vincent and Luca, I think if that stage would be last year, I don't think we would go so fast up
05:53there. I think he's trying to downplay a little bit. For me, from my side, I don't care really.
06:04I just focus on my legs and enjoying on the bike and enjoying yellow jersey and feeling
06:10good on the bike every day. Maxime asks, he says you and Remco are sharing an offensive racing
06:17style. How much do you enjoy riding with him? Could you try something together to put Jonas
06:22into difficulty? I'm really head off to Remco. It's our first Grand Tour together racing against
06:32each other. So far, it's pretty fun to race against him. Yesterday, we saw that he can be
06:39super aggressive. He's just a tough challenger. For me, it's really nice to see a guy like him
06:51going full gas when he can and try to make the difference. He's really good and he's also in
07:00super good shape. Tom Mostrov asks, if you compare the Giro and the Tour, how much harder is the
07:07Tour? What are the similarities or differences between the two races? The Tour is completely
07:19different. You can see the bunch is so much more stressed. There's so much more going around,
07:25not just in the race. In the Giro, it was already good for me because the stage two was super hard
07:37and I gained a lot of time. But now, everybody's more or less close after nine stages because there
07:44were not many climbs. Physically, it's both really hard. The Tour is just a tiny bit more
07:57stressful, more on the edge. More guys are also in good shape, so there's always a bigger group.
08:04But yes, the Tour is the Tour, always.
08:09Christian asks, do you think Jonas is afraid of you? Are you afraid of Jonas?
08:16No, I'm not afraid of him. I would say yesterday I was more afraid of Remco because he was really
08:22flying. But yes, I'm not afraid of anyone. I just need to have a good day every day so far.
08:32And like normal, when I'm in normal shape, good shape. But I think yesterday,
08:41I could see that Wismar was afraid of me or whatever, of who, from us.
08:50You could see that when Remco goes or anybody else had a gap,
08:54Jonas didn't care. He was just caring about me and the team took the rest. When Primoz was
09:05held back, then they put the team front to the right. If I would be in the back, probably also
09:11Jonas would ride the same. It was just this dynamic that Jonas is focusing on me and I think
09:17he's a little bit afraid. But yes, we will see in the climbs how it's going to go.
09:24A lot of Jonas questions coming in. We'll take a few more of those. Do you think Wenger's tactic
09:32is to attack you mentally? Of course, you have good legs, but do you have a good mental strength
09:37and how do you train that? If they're trying to attack me mentally, they're not succeeding.
09:47Also, they're quite for themselves. They race totally against me, but I'm now used to it.
10:02Already, the last three, four tours, it was always the same. I'm getting used to this and
10:09it doesn't hurt. I have to be my own and I have to do my own race.
10:19We're going to skip ahead a little bit.
10:23Mikhail asks, the way you race is spectacle because you attack when you feel like it.
10:28What do you think about those who think that you should calculate more?
10:31I don't know. I was not calculated. In Galibier, I gained almost 40 seconds. It's not so bad attack.
10:45Looking ahead to next week, there's a question. What's your view on stage 11,
10:49more than 4,000 vertical metres, the second big climbing test? Will this be a day to launch an
10:56attack?
10:58The stage 11 is a pretty complicated one because it's a super long stage. Up and down,
11:04I think crazy until the last few tens of kilometres. I don't know, 50, 60 kilometres,
11:11it's super hard. Before, it's really hard to control. I think a big breakaway will go and
11:18maybe stays the breakaway then. It would be lovely to go for stage 11. It's a nice climb also.
11:29We will see first things tomorrow. We need to survive another sprint stage and then we will
11:36see how the race develops on stage 11. For sure, it will be a pretty tough day.
11:44Looking ahead to next week, also stage 14 and 15 are climbing days. How much do you know about
11:50those stages? Have you recounted them?
11:53I didn't recount, but I know some of those climbs. We have homeboy Pavel Sivakov for Platte
12:03de Bees. He's really excited for Sunday. Stage 14, Adam knows really well. Also, I know the
12:12two climbs before, pretty good. I'm really looking forward. Pyrenees was always good for me.
12:20We will see. I think it's going to be an exciting weekend.
12:27Just to finish off with the last couple of questions, guys, in English before we switch over.
12:33Do you think the gap will be bigger at the end of this week or do you believe that the race for
12:36victory will be open between the main contenders still?
12:39For sure. This week was nine stages. It was a bit more conservative with the stages. There were not
12:49a lot of chances to do gaps, big gaps. I think especially in stage 15, there will be more bigger
13:00gaps because it's so demanding stage and long. There will be a lot of pain in the legs. I think
13:07we're going to see bigger gaps in the end of this weekend.
13:12Finally, from Makeda, maybe just to wrap up,
13:14if you can tell us where we are today and what you did and how the rest of the day has gone.
13:20We stay in one small hotel, small room. Luckily, I'm not so much in the room because
13:27I need to do press conference. I need to go ride the bike. We had a good loop,
13:35thanks to Niels Pollitt. We found a good coffee shop in Orleans. It was a pretty solid morning.
13:45I need to do this, talk to you, and then I hope I get a massage. Then it's already almost finished
13:51the day. It goes too fast, the rest days. Pollitt loves every minute of it. Okay, we'll leave it
14:00there, guys. We'll see you all at the race tomorrow where hopefully we'll have another
14:04press conference at the end of the day.