• Wednesday, July 3, 2024 at 8:30 AM
Interview Tadej Pogačar reclaimed the yellow jersey in the 2024 Tour de France on Tuesday. After some tough work by his UAE Emirates team on the Galibier, the 25-year-old Slovenian got rid of his direct competitors with a sharp attack. Domestique João Almeida and sporting director Joxéan Fernández are of course delighted with the result, they tell WielerFlits.
The Portuguese climber – himself one of the world’s best Tour riders – completely emptied himself. “I’m doing pretty well,” Almeida smiles. “I like how things are going now, I’m happy and also satisfied that I was able to demolish everyone. I’m looking forward to the next stages. The gap could have been even bigger, if there hadn’t been a headwind on the Galibier. That would have been even better for us as a team. Moreover, the Galibier is not a super tough climb. Only the last part is a bit steeper and that’s where Tadej can make the difference. So attacking earlier wouldn’t have been smart.”
Fernández – better known by his nickname Matxín – also saw his team execute the plan down to the last detail. “This was a great day! Not just for Tadej, but for everyone who works hard on this. I am also happy with the attitude of our team. Everyone understands what our level is, we have the best riders in the world. Then it comes down to following the plan and we executed that perfectly. Almeida was on the podium of the Giro d’Italia last year, Juan Ayuso a year earlier on that of the Vuelta a España and Adam Yates in the 2023 Tour.”
Still, the Spaniard was somewhat surprised by the gap his leader created. Pogačar is now 45 seconds ahead of Remco Evenepoel and fifty seconds ahead of Jonas Vingegaard. “The next two days we will see sprints again. Then there is the time trial, followed by another flat stage and the gravel stage. On the flat days we will not check with the team, that is up to other teams. But we will have to wait until the time trial. We respect Jonas’s past performances and Remco was also good on the Galibier. And of course he is the world champion time trial.”
There is reason for a small celebration at the team, says Matxín. “A stage win in the Tour is incredibly important for every team. For every rider, winning a mountain stage is also something unique.” But the Tour is still long and every day is dangerous. The team is somewhat tense as they approach the time trial, in which Pogačar received a hammer blow from Vingegaard last year. But if it were up to Almeida, they would possibly put that right. “Everyone did a five-star job on Tuesday. We can do that again. Is the Tour already decided? No, of course not. It won’t be until Nice. And it will be a long time before we get there.”
