Tadej seems unstoppable in the 112th Tour de France. After winning the 12th stage on Hautacam, he also won the second Pyrenean challenge, a 10.9-kilometer mountain time trial with a finish at the Altiport 007 on Peyragudes. He crossed the finish line with a time of 23:00, beating second-placed Jonas Vingegaard (Visma Lease a Bike) by 36 seconds, and third-placed Primož Roglič (Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe) was 1:20 behind.
»I am super happy. This time trial was one big question mark right from December for me, and I wanted everything to be perfect. The team delivered, in the final moments, for everything to be on the top level. I started the day good, I had an easy day in the morning, nice preparation and I was really targeting to do start to finish all out. I tried to smash as much as possible on the pedals, I almost blew up in the end but I saw the timer at the top and it gave me an extra push, because I saw that I was going to win,« Tadej said after his fourth stage win in this year’s Tour.
He achieved all of them with his aero bike Colnago Y1RS. »This was the biggest decision to make, which bike to use today. Obviously, we are racing on road bikes for the majority of the year, so in the end we did the calculations and if you cannot push on the TT bike as much as on the road bike, then it was about the same time. I decided to be more comfortable, the way I was riding the last few stages, on the same bike. In the end, it worked out for me,« continued Tadej, who this time raced without a radio connection to the the team car.
»I decided to go without radio because the tactic was all out from the beginning to the top. So I was just relying on the time checks, and I saw the first one where I was already five seconds in the green – this gave me motivation. The second one was a bit bigger, and then I knew that it was a good pace. At first, I was thinking not to blow up in the first part. I almost did in the end, but from 3km-2km to go, I took a deep breath, reset a little bit and dropped a little bit the power. I knew that the last kick was super super steep and I wanted to come to the last steep part with somewhat good legs,« Tadej said after his 21st stage win in his Tour career.
He now wears the yellow jersey with a lead of 4:07 over Vingegaard and 7:24 over Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick Step). At the press conference, he was asked if he would ride more conservatively from now on and not chase stage wins anymore. »I have a big team behind me who work every day of their careers for me to come to the Tour, and if I single-handedly decided to start giving away opportunities, the team would not be happy. So if there is an opportunity, I cannot say no to a stage in the Tour. In the end, when I finish my career, I will probably not speak to 99% of the peloton. I will focus on friends and family,« replied Tadej, who is aware that despite the big lead, the race is not yet decided.
»We need to be in control, and we need to wake up every day feeling good. So the goal is to stay concentrated and try to keep the same gap, keep the yellow jersey. I’m not thinking about a particular stage win, although if there is an opportunity, we will go for it. But we need to be smart, too,« said Tadej.
He faces another extremely challenging Pyrenean test tomorrow. In the 14th stage, the riders will have to overcome 4,950 meters of elevation over 182.6 kilometers, with climbs following one after another on Tourmalet, Col d’Aspin, Col de Peyresourde, and the final climb to the Superbagnères ski resort.