Tadej Pogacar ‘fell asleep on the bike’ to hand seconds to Jonas Vingegaard at the Tour de France 2023 – Robbie McEwen

ByEurosport

Updated 16/07/2023 at 12:10 GMT

Tadej Pogacar ceded one second to Jonas Vingegaard in the Tour de France general classification on Stage 14. Pogacar was impeded by motorbikes on Col de Joux Plane as his rival picked up crucial bonus seconds but Robbie McEwen said the two-time Tour de France winner was not blameless in the concession of said seconds. Stream the 2023 Tour de France live and on-demand on discovery+ & eurosport.com

Pogacar ‘fell asleep on the bike’ to hand seconds to Vingegaard – McEwen

Tadej Pogacar “fell asleep on the bike” during Stage 14 of the Tour de France, that is according to Robbie McEwen.

12-time Tour de France stage winner McEwen was speaking alongside Orla Chennaoui, Dan Lloyd and Adam Blythe on The Breakaway.

Pogacar led Vingegaard home after a 151.8km ride from Annemasse to Morzine les Portes du Soleil on Stage 14, collecting two bonus seconds more than his rival at the finish. Carlos Rodriguez stole in to secure the win as Ineos Grenadiers went back-to-back.

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However, Vingegaard crested the Col de Joux Plane with Pogacar in tow, claiming bonus seconds to ensure a net gain on the stage of one second.

The centre of the Slovenian's misfortune came on the Joux Plane. Pogacar tried to attack Vingegaard but was impeded by motorbikes, which were themselves slowed by the thick corridor of spectators. As Pogacar was forced to the front, Vingegaard was then able to launch a surprise attack to claim eight bonus seconds, while the Slovenian had to settle for five.

Adam Blythe said that situation will likely have left Pogacar “very angry” but McEwen took another view, saying that Pogacar missed an opportunity to put some time into his rival after making a basic error.

“It was certainly a missed opportunity,” began McEwen.

“With Jumbo riding so hard all day thinking they were going to fatigue Pogacar. And then the attack came from Pogacar himself - probably just the timing of that was a little off, and he didn't completely crack Vingegaard

"But [at] the intermediate sprint where he just fell asleep on the bike, and Vingegaard jumped in [to take the bonus seconds] with just 100 metres to go to the top.

“That just blew my mind that he could make such a basic error at such an important moment in the race and hand bonus seconds to Vingegaard."

Will Pogacar manage to put any time into Vingegaard on Stage 15? Find out with our live blog.