Pau (France) (AFP) – When reigning champion Tadej Pogacar took the race leader's yellow jersey at the Tour de France on Monday when he blitzed to victory in the third stage, it looked as though he would keep it all the way to Paris.
Issued on: 09/07/2026 - 10:02
3 min Reading time
But for the third year running, Pogacar lost the jersey the very next day.In 2024 and 2025 he would take it back and claim overall victory on the Champs Elysees, and this year he remains the overwhelming favourite to win a record-equalling fifth Tour crown.But the questions begs: why did the world champion and his UAE Emirates-XRG team not work harder to try to keep hold of the jersey, instead rolling over the finish line in Foix on Tuesday 13 minutes behind the stage winner Mads Pedersen.That put Pogacar, 27, almost eight minutes behind the new race leader, Norwegian Torstein Traeen in the overall standings."That was no mistake. That was no lack of ability on their part. It was a conscious decision to let the yellow jersey go," four-time Tour winner Chris Froome told AFP."That basically takes the pressure off UAE having to control at the front of the race for the next at least three days," added the 41-year-old Briton, who is back at the Tour for the first time since retiring last year."It's probably a smart move by UAE to give the whole team a little bit of a break."But it's these kind of decisions that over three weeks might really save them coming into the third week and mean that the team is still super fresh when they really need to be."Pogacar himself said after Tuesday's stage that he was going to gain a considerable amount of time to rest and recover now that he does not have to hang around after each stage for podium, anti-doping and media commitments."I think you cannot measure this, but some days it's a lot of stress with media and some days it's easy to do it," Pogacar told reporters."It just depends on the day. It's hard to tell. I've been a lot of times back on the podium and a lot of times doing all the extra work."Today (Tuesday) will be one hour and a half less obligations, so that definitely helps with the recovery."'It's quite a disruption' -The post-race programme for the Tour leader involves a cool-down period on the home trainer in front of his team bus followed by the podium presentation, the signing of souvenir jerseys, press interviews and then an anti-doping control.Only then can the rider head back to his team hotel for a shower, massage, dinner and some rest.
