The breathless tussle between Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard until the Combloux time trial on Monday could have not taken place on the Tour de France, or be cut short before the end of the first week of racing. In an interview with Nos, Urska Zigart, the companion of the double winner of the Tour de France (2020 and 2021) revealed that the champion had expressed the idea of withdrawing from the event on the evening of the fifth stage, linking Pau to Laruns.
Pogacar, who had dropped more than a minute on Vingegaard that day, spoke with his wife on the phone, learning that she had suffered a fall (she is a professional cyclist) in the Tour of Italy, forcing her to withdraw from the event. A news that visibly greatly disturbed the leader of the UAE Team Emirates team.
“He called me after the finish to ask me how it went and I told him that I hadn’t finished,” explained Urska Zigart. “Then he asked why. He knows that I never give up without a good reason. He got worried and told me “I want to go home”. But the Slovenian champion dissuaded him from throwing in the towel. “You’re not going home, it’s the Tour,” she said. The next day, Pogacar attacked his Danish rival on the climb to Cauterets-Cambasque, relegating him to 24 seconds and completely relaunching the race for the yellow jersey.
