Tadej about Tour: Week one

So, everything started after the Giro, first Urška and I took a week off to rest a bit, then we went to Isola 2000 for altitude training, where Urška prepared for Switzerland and the national championship, where she excelled. The preparations were very successful for both of us.

The time until departure to Florence passed quickly. In Florence, we checked out the route of the first stage. The atmosphere was excellent, every day we became more connected as a team. The first three days in a grand tour are always a bit challenging, it seems to me, everything went more or less smoothly. Already on the second day, we tried to attack at St Luco, but Jonas showed that he was in excellent form, so I couldn’t shake him off, but that’s okay. The next day we rode 230 km in the heat to Turin, so the first three days were, as the “Štajerci” would say, hot as a dog.

Then we go to Galibier, I really liked this stage, I know every meter of the road. I have spent many training camps in Sestriere, so it was almost a familiar stage, and it was a pleasure to ride in the group to Galibier, especially because our team set the pace. The team gave their all, all the way to the top of Galibier, where they set the stage for the decisive attack, where I could shake off Jonas just below the summit of the climb and could maintain and even increase my lead to the finish line, taking my first win at the Tour and reclaiming the yellow jersey, which I lost on the third day due to sprints and positioning. I took it back on Galibier with a larger lead, which gave me additional motivation and confidence for the following days.

After Galibier, there were some tough stages, very stressful, the wind was always a threat, but the time gaps were never big enough. Then came the time trial, where you are on your own and don’t have the stress of staying in a group, making sure you’re not caught in the echelons and staying in the second or third group, no fear of being taken down by someone, so this stressful week after Galibier was cut by the time trial. I rode it very well according to my expectations, it could have been a bit better, but being 12 seconds behind the world champion Remco; I won’t complain, I made a difference to the other GC competitors. Yes, everything stayed quite close together after the time trial.

After three flat stages, I was very happy for the rest day when we could be together with the guys and go for coffee. We rode really slowly, such days pass too quickly. Even on a rest day, you have to fulfill media obligations, you can’t avoid them!

Translated words from Tadej