Tadej and his UAE Team Emirates – XRG team had a nice second rest day at the 112th Tour de France, which will conclude on Sunday in Paris. The final week of the race will start tomorrow with the 16th stage finishing on the famous Mont Ventoux, followed by two challenging alpine tests with summit finishes on Col de la Loze and La Plagne in the 18th and 19th stages.
Before the decisive part of the race, Tadej wears the yellow jersey with a 4:13 lead over Jonas Vingegaard (Visma Lease a Bike) and 7:53 over Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe). »I’m quite confident in myself, I think I have to be. But I’m also sure that Jonas can be confident too, because he’s in really good form, as we saw in the time trial and the day after at Superbagnères. He was really flying,« Tadej said during today’s virtual press conference.
»I need to keep focused, I need to keep eating well, sleeping well, and keep this mood that we have in this group, keep up the motivation, and be confident for the last week, because I think it’s going to be tough, but we are ready for a fight with everybody, especially with Jonas,« Tadej continued.
If the last week unfolds according to his plans, he will celebrate his fourth Tour victory in Paris. However, he still faces three very challenging tests, including climbs where Vingegaard has been stronger than him in past years.
»I’m almost confident to say that it was designed to give me a bit of scaredness, because we’ve been to Hautacam and we are going to Mont Ventoux and Col de la Loze, where Jonas dropped me all three times. But I always look at it as a race situation, it’s not about a climb being more or less suitable or anything, it’s just about the race situation and how the race unfolds. Because I think all climbs are more or less the same. Ten, fifteen-kilometer climbs, if they’re fifteen kilometers at a 10% gradient, those are just statistics and it’s not about what name they carry,« revealed Tadej.
He has already won four stages in this year’s Tour, and on his way to last year’s Tour victory, he won six stages. Repeating that achievement is still possible. »Actually, I like all these climbs, I like Mont Ventoux, it’s super iconic, and Col de la Loze is one of the toughest climbs I’ve ever ridden in my career, so I’m looking forward to these two stages. I’m not going to say I’m looking for revenge or anything like that, I just want to have better legs than those two days in the past. That’s all, I’m looking forward to it,« Tadej highlighted the famous climbs where he hasn’t won yet.
If he succeeds this year, it will also be part of his maturation at the Tour, where he first competed in 2020. »I’m no longer in the white jersey, I was in the white jersey for so long and now I actually miss that jersey. But on the other hand, I definitely have more experience with the Tour, how the race unfolds, what my abilities are, what the competition is like, what the competitors can do. I think I am maturing and growing up. This is my sixth Tour, I have always been at a high level, and I think I can now confidently say that I have some experience with the Tour, but still not all. We learn every week, every day of the Tour. We will see how far we can actually go,« added Tadej, who, with four overall victories in the Tour, has already celebrated 21 stage wins in total.