{"id":794514,"date":"2026-07-11T07:07:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T07:07:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/794514\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T07:07:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T07:07:16","slug":"pogacar-dispels-doubts-about-his-dominance-in-the-tour-de-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/794514\/","title":{"rendered":"Pogacar Dispels Doubts About His Dominance in the Tour de France"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tadej Pogacar<\/a> remains completely unfazed by the doubts that are once again arising in the Tour de France, now that the Slovenian rider from UAE Emirates-XRG attacked mercilessly on Stage 6 over the Col du Tourmalet. The world champion took his place at a press conference after Stage 7, wearing the yellow jersey. There, in just a few minutes, he explained exactly why, in his opinion, there should be no doubts.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s nothing new that doubts inevitably arise in the Tour de France whenever someone stands out from the pack. The French have already taken many riders to task, sometimes justifiably and often unjustifiably. After Pogacar\u2019s dominance in Stage 6, in which he was nearly 3 minutes faster than Jonas Vingegaard (UAE Emirates-XRG), the same suspicions resurfaced.<\/p>\n

Tom Dumoulin had already made a strong attempt <\/a>on Thursday\u2019s \u201cDe Avondetappe\u201d to refute accusations of cheating. The Dutchman said he understood the skepticism, but also emphasized that Pogacar is \u201ca super talent,\u201d and that not even a shred of evidence of cheating has ever been found. \u201cWe try to explain why someone like Messi is so good, but the truth is, we just don\u2019t understand it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the photo<\/p>\n

\"tadej-pogacar-2\"\/<\/p>\n

Tadej Pogacar was far too strong for the rest of the field in Stage 6.<\/p>\n

Poga\u010dar knows exactly why he is much stronger than several years agoPoga\u010dar was similarly assured when he faced the media on Friday following stage 7 of the Tour de France. He was asked about the editions he lost to Vingegaard in 2022 and 2023 and, more specifically, what had changed since those defeats. <\/p>\n

In 2022, Poga\u010dar was outmanoeuvred by the collective strength of Jumbo-Visma on the road to the Col du Granon. One year later, he suffered an even more dramatic collapse on stage 17, when the Slovenian delivered the now-famous words<\/a>: \u201cI\u2019m gone, I\u2019m dead.\u201d<\/p>\n

What has changed in Pogacar as a rider since 2022? Everyone can see that he\u2019s improved by leaps and bounds, but why? Pogacar first attributed it to his winning mindset. \u201cThere are a lot of factors that come into play. First of all, I have to thank my parents\u2014they obviously raised me well,\u201d said the yellow jersey wearer.<\/p>\n

He also thanked his former cycling clubs, where he was pushed to his limits even as a young talent. \u201cWhen I was young, I was already riding for a good cycling club. I made friends on the bike, and together we dreamed big. When you grow up in that kind of environment, you naturally develop that kind of mindset. But of course, it\u2019s also genetic\u2014that\u2019s hard to explain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the photo<\/p>\n

\"tadej-pogacar-5\"\/Poga\u010dar made major gains after defeats to Vingegaard<\/p>\n

According to Pogacar, however, he made the greatest strides in his career not because of his mindset, but simply thanks to a professional environment. While he won the Tour de France in 2020 and 2021 by eating a slice of pizza during the race, Vingegaard and Jumbo-Visma proved that this was no longer possible after 2022 and 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest change since that last slump in 2023 lies mainly in my physical abilities. I\u2019m better than I was then, and I\u2019ve also grown mentally. I\u2019ve gained experience, and one of the most important changes has taken place within the team, in terms of nutrition. In this Tour de France, my body temperature is simply lower than it was in 2022 or the Tours before that. There\u2019s more focus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the video<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Poga\u010dar credits friend and nutrition coach Gorka Prieto<\/p>\n

By taking top-notch care of his body and fueling it properly, Pogacar was able to maximize his existing potential. He improved a little bit every year, including in 2026. Pogacar publicly thanked his nutrition coach, Gorka Prieto, for this. \u201cMy relationship with him is very good; he\u2019s one of the best in this business.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOther teams sometimes have as many as four or five nutrition coaches on staff, but Gorka has been doing it on his own for years. He\u2019s done a fantastic job with virtually all the riders, even if things weren\u2019t always perfect. He created his own app, which we now use every day. That makes our lives easier. Thanks to our collaboration, we\u2019ve also become good friends; I\u2019m happy to have him.\u201d<\/p>\n

With his victory in Stage 6 (and, incidentally, Stage 3 as well), Pogacar maintains a 2.42-minute lead over Vingegaard. Third-place rider and teammate Isaac del Toro trails by 3.27 minutes. Is the Tour de France already decided? UAE domestique Tim Wellens told us<\/a> that he wants to keep his team leaders grounded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tadej Pogacar remains completely unfazed by the doubts that are once again arising in the Tour de France,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":794515,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,82,1422,10875,262636,129545],"class_list":["post-794514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-tadej-pogacar","tag-tim-wellens","tag-tour-de-france-2026","tag-uae-team-emirates-xrg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=794514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794514\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/794515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=794514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=794514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=794514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}