Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates-XRG) was quick to insist he is “definitely not Superman” after a record-breaking climb of Mont Ventoux.
Pogacar, never more than two bike lengths away from rival Jonas Vingegaard (Visma–Lease a Bike) during most of the ascent, came home in fifth with his yellow jersey status still firmly intact.
But a more prestigious prize was won by the Slovenian, who beat the previous fastest ascent of Ventoux by 50 seconds.
Pogacar reached the summit in an unofficial time of 55:41, which would shatter Iban Mayo’s 55:51 from the 2004 Criterium du Dauphine.
“I don’t think we could have ridden much faster,” said Pogacar in the aftermath.
“Jonas and his team did very good pacing. For today, this was the limit for how fast we could ride.
‘Superglue!’ – Vingegaard attacks three times, Pogacar responds in thrilling Mont Ventoux battle
Video credit: TNT Sports
“We rode hard to the bottom. First there was a fight for position, then more pacing, then he had Tiesj [Benoot, Visma] and Victor [Campenaerts, Visma] waiting for him, so their pacing was really executed perfectly.
“It all went pretty fast, though maybe if we’d cut a few corners, we’d have taken a couple more seconds and it would have been quicker.”
There was precious little between Pogcar and Vingegaard in the end, with neither able to shake the other from the back of their wheel.
But with five stages to come and the reigning general classification champion holding a 4’15” advantage over the Dane, it looks likely a fourth crown is heading his way.
Despite his dominance throughout this year’s Tour, Pogacar knows his limits and said it would have taken something beyond superhuman to catch the leaders.
“I’m definitely not Superman. I was born in Ljubljana, not wherever Superman was born, I forget. But today was an epic climb to do all the same,” he said.
“I was coming up quite fast, I could see the winners ahead in the last 800 metres, but not even Superman could have caught them there.
“In the end, I was actually quite close to the breakaway. Chapeau to [stage winner Valentin] Paret-Peintre, he deserved the victory. It was a super-nice win.
“Sometimes I was at my limit. But the important thing was not to go too deep and lose time.
“I kept a little bit in reserve, and I simply tried to stay with Jonas. The big goal was to defend the yellow today and nothing else.”
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