Tadej Pogačar is coming into the Tour de France off the back of a recent bout of COVID-19, the Slovenian revealed at a pre-race press conference in Florence on Thursday.
Pogačar hasn’t raced since winning the Giro d’Italia at the end of May, while his fellow Tour de France contenders – Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel, and Primož Roglič – have all had to battle back from a mass crash suffered at April’s Itzulia Basque Country.
He’s also heading into the race recovering from a setback, though he noted that his bout with the virus wasn’t a serious one.
“It’s not as serious anymore. Especially if your body already had the virus before and I had it once or twice,” Pogačar said, revealing that he caught COVID-19 around 10 days ago. “It wasn’t too bad, just like a cold. It passed really fast.
“I stopped for one day and then some rollers inside. Then when I wasn’t sick anymore, I was riding outside.”
Pogačar’s setback is a minor one compared to the multitude of injuries suffered by Vingegaard – his great rival and fellow two-time winner who has not raced since the crash.
Pogačar said that “you’re never sure” about being ready for a Grand Tour coming back from injury – as he knows all too well after fracturing his wrist at Liège-Bastogne-Liège last spring.
He did, however, note that Vingegaard wouldn’t be at the Grand Départ this weekend if the Dane wasn’t ready to fight him once again for the yellow jersey.
“It’s good to see him at the start. I think he’s ready because otherwise, I don’t think he’d be at the start,” Pogačar said. “It’s something I’m looking forward to – making a great show again.
“I think the relationship between me and Jonas is something extraordinary. It’s crazy that we write this history ourselves as rivals. I appreciate this rivalry because I respect him a lot.”
With no major injuries to speak of himself, Pogačar instead has his own obstacle of sorts to overcome, having only completed three weeks of racing with his Giro d’Italia victory a month ago.
The Giro-Tour double hasn’t been achieved since Marco Pantani in 1998 but, after dominating in Italy, and with his main rivals all having endured less-than-ideal lead-ins to the Tour, Pogačar looks to have the strongest chance of any rider in the past 36 years.
UAE Team Emirates heads into the Tour de France with one of the strongest GC squads of that time period, too, with Juan Ayuso, Adam Yates, and João Almeida headlining his support team. Pogačar called his team “one of the strongest teams ever” at the race.
“Our team I think is super strong,” he said. “We have one of the strongest teams ever in the Tour, I would say. Climbing-wise we have superstars, so I’m really honoured to have them as teammates.
“Also, we have a really strong team for the flat and technical parts as well. I think we can be confident in this team. I’m super happy and honoured to have them as teammates.”
