Tadej Pogacar’s Tour de France hopes potentially under threat as illness strikes team

• Tadej Pogacar 's lead in the Tour de France could come under threat due to a sickness bug affecting his UAE Team Emirates XRG.
• Brandon McNulty abandoned Stage 18 due to illness, while Adam Yates and other key domestiques have also apparently been battling sickness.
• Pogacar told The Guardian : “I think we can manage. It’s the third week, all the teams are suffering. There are bodies everywhere on a stage like today. We will keep fighting and I believe we can do it.”
• There are two potentially defining mountain tests to come as the peloton takes on Alpe d’Huez on back-to-back stages, before the final stage around Paris .
• Riders like Nils Politt and Felix Grossschartner have a greater importance placed upon them to help guide Pogacar and Del Toro through the next three days, with efforts made to minimise further infection.

IN FULL

Is Tadej Pogacar ill? Why sickness could threaten bid for fifth Tour de France title