Tadej Pogacar is concerned that a lack of sleep for himself and Jonas Vingegaard, could have led to the crash that has seen his rival abandon the Tour de France after stage 15.
Pogacar reacted to Vingegaard’s devastating news by revealing that doping controls came at 2am local time, disrupting the riders’ sleep, which could have contributed to a lack of concentration during the stage and an unfortunate crash.
The news comes after Belgian Remco Evenepoel beat race leader Pogacar to the finish line to win stage 15.
But earlier in the stage, two-time champion Vingegaard went down with three other riders at a tight corner, after his front wheel clipped a curb about 20km from the finish. The crash left the Dane's right arm in a sling.
Vingegaard's Visma-Lease a Bike teammate Sepp Kuss was also involved in the crash along with Pogacar's UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammates Isaac del Toro and Brandon McNulty. Vingegaard, 29, was visibly in pain before he was `taken into an ambulance.
“It’s really sad to see that Jonas is out, since 2021, we were always battling out for the Tour, maybe at the beginning we didn’t have the best relationship, but then we became good rivals, respected rivals,” Pogacar told Eurosport.
"We are good teammates, even friends... the Tour won't be the same without him.
"We were talking about the doping controls at two in the morning, I don't know if it could have affected his concentration. I don’t blame that, but it could be connected.”
The other three were able to continue but Del Toro was visibly struggling in the final kilometres as he tried to keep up with Pogacar and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe rider Evenepoel.
Evenepoel, who was third overall before Vingegaard's crash, pushed past Pogacar to secure his first stage victory in this year's race.
Del Toro finished third a few seconds later. Four-time winner Pogacar is five minutes ahead of Evenepoel, who moved up to second place
