Tour de France - Bradley Wiggins: Game over for rivals after 'supreme' Tadej Pogacar 'blows race to pieces'
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ByEurosport
Updated 04/07/2021 at 07:20 GMT
Bradley Wiggins says it's 'game over' for the Tour de France after Tadej Pogacar claimed the yellow jersey. “He went from such a long way out on a very tough course, first day in the Alps, and he’s blown the race to pieces, quite frankly," he said. Listen to the latest episode of The Bradley Wiggins Show on all good podcast platforms now!
Pogacar: I was surprised by the amount of time I put in
Bradley Wiggins believes it will take a miracle for Tadej Pogacar not to win the Tour de France.
Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) claimed the yellow jersey on Saturday after finishing fourth in Stage 8 and was in scintillating form.
The Slovenian kicked into high gear on the first day in the Alps and opened up a comfortable gap over his rivals in the overall standings.
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Tadej Pogacar is the yellow jersey holder
Image credit: Eurosport
Wiggins was amazed by Pogacar’s performance and said the 22-year-old has blown the race to pieces.
“I would say it’s game over,” Wiggins said speaking on his latest podcast from France.
From that point of view, barring injuries and crashes, I can’t see him losing his form at this stage in the race.
“Having said that, anything can happen. We’ve got two weeks to go.
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'Off the charts' - The Breakaway reacts to Tadej Pogacar
“Once he’s put his nose in the wind…that time trial the other day and today, I know he didn’t win the stage today but he came very close.
“He went from such a long way out on a very tough course, [the] first day in the Alps, and he’s blown the race to pieces, quite frankly.
“But a great performance from Wout van Aert. [He finished] In second place and we were talking about his GC chances and today was going to be a day where we’ll find out more in that department.
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Teuns comes home for emotional Stage win before new leader Pogacar rolls home
“I know he’s dismissed that and brushed it off, said he’s too heavy, but well, come on man. You’ve got to start looking at that. There’s a podium in it.”
Closest to Pogacar are Team Jumbo-Visma’s Wout van Aert and Astana Pro rider Alexey Lutsenko, but Wiggins can’t see any rival getting near the yellow jersey holder.
“You always want a bike race and never underestimate your opponents and you always want to say it’s never over until they ride into Paris, but you just can’t see anyone else in the same league as him at the moment. He’s clearly the best athlete. Sadly, that’s the way it is,” Wiggins explained.
“His biggest adversaries have fallen away with injuries. Geraint Thomas obviously went away very early today and pretty much (Primoz) Roglic.
“But you have to say this guy is a supreme talent. He’s clearly moved on again from last year.
But it was a dominant display and in some ways I said it was a little bit boring, the outcome. Not a boring race, it was great to watch.
“A whittling down process and a sheer display of dominance from Tadej Pogacar and UAE after a tough day yesterday when the race put them on the rack. They bounced back and stuck it to them.”
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'Here he goes!' - Pogacar attacks away from peloton
While Pogacar enjoyed an excellent day, it was another frustrating race for Thomas who fell away due to injuries.
He would eventually finish 174th, 35 minutes behind stage winner Dylan Teuns and Wiggins admitted it was heart-breaking to see Thomas struggling.
“Who knows [if he’ll finish the Tour]. You can’t underestimate the injuries sustained and the knock on effect of that,” Wiggins said.
“It’s not a simple thing is it, just popping it back in and getting back going again. He’s a class act and he was great before. We’d have seen him a lot more this Tour had he not had that injury.
“It’s a real shame because he was one of my favourites to win this race. I think he’s a great guy and one of the best cyclists we’ve ever produced.”
He added: “He lays it down and has crashes, but I would say he also produces the goods. He’s won a lot of races.”
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