“To be honest, at one point I thought we wouldn’t even be able to overtake Wout and he would win the stage. But in the end, the peloton was stronger,” 23-year-old Tadej Pogačar described the events in the longest stage of this year.
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The Tour de France champion from the previous two years won the seventh stage of the planet’s most famous race for the seventh time in his career after a famous finish. “I wanted to win the stage, that was my goal. The fact that I jumped into the leader’s jersey is just a bonus,” claimed Pogačar.
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Wout van Aert, after winning Tuesday’s stage and an incredible chase on Wednesday’s dice day from the Hell of the North, attacked from the start until he was able to get away. “It was absolutely crazy. The entire first two hours, when we drove an average of over fifty kilometers. And the strongest guy in the peloton broke away and a lot of teams had to take turns at the top to catch him,” Pogačar highlighted the qualities of Wout van Aert.
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The Belgian drove 135 kilometers in an escape. Fuglsang dropped out first, Simmons also thirty kilometers before the finish line. “We didn’t want to control the race as a team in such a long stage, that’s why we decided to escape. And since there were only three of us, I immediately knew that it would be impossible to reach the finish line. But I wanted to honor the maillot jaune and share its specialness with the fans,” said Wout van Aert, who was caught up to ten kilometers before the finish line.
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“It was great to ride in the yellow jersey and I really enjoyed it. I’m going to enjoy the green jersey now anyway. And I will help the guys from the team in the fight for the overall standings,” Wout van Aert concluded his four-day ride in the leader’s jersey.
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In the final short hills, an avalanche of attacks was launched. The key moment came a few hundred meters before the finish line, when Pogačar was able to react to Roglič’s start and shake off all his opponents with a great finish.
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“But it wasn’t quite a typical spurt. The last two climbs were very hard. I got well above the usual heart rate limit, but my legs were good,” said Pogačar after the stage, which he flew at a speed of 49.4 kilometers per hour.
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He was looking forward to Friday’s continuation of the race with the finish at the Plain of beautiful girls, where he dominated the overall classification at the last possible moment during his Tour debut two years ago. “I hope that this time too the experiences will be only positive,” the young Slovene grinned.
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