Tadej Pogacar ‘forgets his team-mates are human’ says Dan Lloyd ahead of Stage 14 of Tour de France 2023

ByEurosport

Published 15/07/2023 at 12:03 GMT

Dan Lloyd said in the latest episode of The Breakaway that Tadej Pogacar sometimes forgets that his team-mates are human. Lloyd was talking alongside Orla Chennaoui, Adam Blythe and Robbie McEwen on the latest episode of The Breakaway. Pogacar is set to lock horns with Jumbo-Visma rival Jonas Vingegaard on Stage 14 in the Alps – a 151.8km ride from Annemasse to Morzine les Portes du Soleil.

Pogacar ‘forgets his team-mates are human’, Dan Lloyd

Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) took a chunk out of Jonas Vingegaard’s Tour de France lead on Stage 13 – eight seconds to be exact – but the tactics of the Slovenian were questioned on The Breakaway.

UAE Team Emirates worked all day on the front to control the break for Pogacar, who put four seconds into Vingegaard and collected a further four in bonus seconds. But the wisdom of that work was called into question by The Breakaway team ahead of Stage 14.

“[He] could have let Jumbo-Visma do all that work yesterday and [Pogacar] could have gone to the top of that climb and did exactly what he did," said Adam Blythe.

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“For the four seconds, he had the whole team on the front all day. He could have done exactly the same but just without the four bonus seconds, and he would have saved all his team.

“Great that he was able to get the extra four seconds – but that is all it is, for three-and-a-half hours’ work.”

Dan Lloyd, alongside Blythe, Orla Chennaoui and Robbie McEwen, added that Pogacar can be guilty of judging his team-mates by his own prowess. As a result, he can ask too much of them.

“I do worry that Pogacar thinks about things based on how he's feeling and forgets that his team-mates are human,” said Lloyd.

"When you watch him ride up to his team-mates yesterday when they've been going pretty hard from the foot of the climb, it's obvious how easy he's finding it. He's talking to them, he's on the radio, he's having a drink, etc - all signs that you're not really anywhere close to your limit. And we saw it again at the finish.

“Pidcock told us he was doing 700 watts and he was gapped, so Pogacar was doing even more than that - to have that amount in reserve, he was clearly feeling very comfortable.

“He's got to remember it's not just about him conserving energy. It's about conserving the energy of his team-mates, who ultimately he hopes are going to have to work to defend the yellow jersey for the last week of the race.”

How to watch Stage 14 of the Tour de France as riders enter the Alps

The GC battle between Vingegaard and Pogacar has been bubbling along nicely, and with the riders entering the Alps on Saturday, we could get a picture of who is the stronger of the two.

Pogacar showed excellent legs to pinch those seconds off Vingegaard atop the Grand Colombier on Friday, but the Alps are more the terrain of the defending champion.

The riders will scale three Cat. 1 climbs (Col de Cou, Col du Feu and Col de la Ramaz) before facing the mighty Col de Joux Plane (11.6km at 8.5%) and then dashing down to Morzine.

Vingegaard starts Stage 14 with a nine-second lead over Pogacar, and it's unlikely to be the same come Saturday evening.