Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard are set to clash again on stage 18 of the Tour de France as the race heads into the high Alps and finishes atop the brutal Col de la Loze. But even before the day’s action began, Pogacar had already collided — literally — with Team Visma | Lease a Bike.
The yellow jersey crashed into a Visma team car while riding to the start. “We were cruising behind the Visma car, maybe a bit too close,” he told ITV Sport. “Then suddenly he brake checked me. I wasn’t ready because the way was clear. I don’t know why he braked.”
Despite the unexpected jolt, Pogacar saw the funny side: “Maybe their driver wanted to test my brakes?” he laughed. “I hit my chin a little bit, but everything is okay,” he added with a smile. “Nothing’s wrong.”
With such a huge day ahead in the mountains, Pogacar will be hoping there are no underlying effects of the incident as Team Visma | Lease a Bike look to again bring him down, only this time in a more traditional cycling sense.
For his part, speaking to TNT Sports ahead of the stage, Visma leader Jonas Vingegaard wasn’t giving too much away. “I’m feeling very good at the moment and today’s another chance. We will fight on until the end. Today’s going to be a hard stage and we will do what we can. The last 5 or 6k of the last climb is steeper, but in general it’s just a very long climb. I’m not looking at how Tadej is going, but just trying to do something,” said the Dane.
With more than four minutes to make up and Team Visma | Lease a Bike in all out attack mode, whatever happens it’s set to be another exciting day of racing.