POGACAR HAS COVID-19 WORRIES AFTER SHOCKING STAGE 3 WIN IN SLOVENIA; ‘IT’S QUITE STRESSFUL’.
Tadej Pogacar will ride through his home town of Komenda as race leader after stealing the green jersey of his UAE Team Emirates team-mate Rafal Majka. However, the Tour de France champion admits he’s worried ahead of his title defence due to the number of Covid-19 cases among his team threatening to deplete the squad.
Despite taking the lead of the Tour of Slovenia, Tadej Pogacar admits things are “stressful”, due to an outbreak of Covid-19 among his team.
With just two weeks to go until the Tour de France, avoiding infection is crucial for the riders, but Pogacar knows he is at risk due to the spread among the UAE Team Emirates squad.
“It’s quite stressful, but there’s nothing we can do, we try to isolate and survive without further infection,” Pogacar told Sio1 television.
The 23-year-old caught the virus earlier this year but still managed to recover in time to win the UAE tour.
With his Tour de France defence coming fresh on the heels of his attempt to win in Slovenia, Pogacar is anxiously trying to avoid falling like his teammates.
“Here in the Tour of Slovenia, Mikkel (Bjerg) was positive, so he and his roommate went home. It’s quite stressful, but we can’t do anything,” he said.
The cases in their camp risk depleting the squad over the coming weeks.
Medical director Adrian Rotunno said: “Unfortunately, like many other teams we have also had a surge in Covid-19 cases.
Our affected riders have been fully assessed, and are currently mildly symptomatic.
“It’s a pity but the reality is that the virus is still with us as a society and we are monitoring our athletes regularly to be as careful as we can.”
Amid the uncertainty and worry, Pogacar put in a dominant performance to win Stage 3 of the Tour of Slovenia and take the overall lead.
He showed why he’s the overwhelming favourite to defend the Tour de France yellow jersey after flying into the lead through the uphill finish at Celje to clock 3’27″09.
UAE Team Emirates team-mate Rafal Majka crossed the line 11 seconds later, handing over the green vest to Pogacar.
And Alpecin-Fenix’s Nicola Conci – the team’s latest signing, who led the stage ahead of the uphill charge – completed the podium 14 seconds back.
In Stage 4, Pogacar will race through his hometown of Komenda. He holds a seven-second lead over Majka, 55 seconds ahead of Damen Novak.
The home favourite bided his time before forcing the issue on the final climb, with Majka the only rider able to keep pace as the two opened up a 30 second lead.
On the descent, Bahrain Victorious duo Novak and Matej Mohoric slipped into the chasing group.
