Tadej Pogacar from the UAE Team Emirates-XRG is now ready to clinch his fourth Tour de France win this season. However, he will face his biggest opponent, Jonas Vingegaard from Visma-Lease a Bike, to successfully do so.
The two cyclists have shared the last five yellow jerseys between them, and now, their rivalry will set forth on a new journey as this year’s race will have tons of tough uphill riding, which will test their tactics, strategies, and sportsmanship with one another.
In a pre-tour press conference at the Opéra de Lille, Pogacar admitted that he is aware of the expectations of his team, as they hoped that he would perform his best at the upcoming race. Pogacar expressed: “The last five years were quite intense between me, Jonas, and others as well, with great competition, rivalry, and I think this year is more or less the same.”
He added, “It will be interesting to see if we can exchange it again or not, but you never know with new guys coming in, someone can surprise, and a lot can happen in such a long race.”
The athlete also declared that he anticipates racing against Vingegaard and said, “I’m looking forward to racing against Jonas again. I think he’s in great shape. For me, it’s been a great season, so far perfect, and going here to the Tour as one of the favourites is an honour, and I’m pleased. I hope I can live up to the expectations.”
Pogacar is a favourite to win this year
After his impressive performance at the Critérium du Dauphiné, there is no doubt that Pogacar is one of the favourites to win this year’s Tour de France. However, the first 10 days of the race will be crucial, especially if he wants to achieve his goal.
Pogacar said: “The first week of the Tour is always one of the most intense, nervous weeks… You can quite easily lose the Tour de France in the first 10 days until the rest day, but I can see it also as an opportunity.”
“My goal should be to gain time, but the first week you just need to take care, not screw up the whole Tour and just focus, save the legs for the last week, and see how it goes hopefully without any bad luck or sort of incidents to survive the first week,” he declared.
On social media, the official account of the Tour de France shared that Tadej has arrived and is ready for the race, which will begin on July 5. Netizens expressed their support by commenting: “Champion 2025🔥🔥🔥😍”, “This guy was born to be a star 🔥”, “Come on Tadej, come on boys we have to win the Tour no matter what 💪 💪”, and “Let’s go champ 🐐🏆”
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