“I got sick ten days ago. I had Covid, it was a little question mark but I recovered well and I am fully recovered,” declared the Slovenian at the Palazzio Vecchio, a jewel of the Renaissance where the main leaders met the press.
“It wasn’t that bad. It was just a cold that passed quite quickly, he explained. Covid is no longer as virulent as before, especially if you have already had the virus before. »
The 2020 and 2021 winner fell ill during a training camp at Isola 2000. He “stopped for a full day before getting back on the bike, first on the rollers indoors, then outdoors”.
Another setback disrupted his otherwise “perfect” preparation: the death of his grandfather. Pogacar went to the funeral in Slovenia – ‘it was important for me’.
Second for the last two years behind Dane Jonas Vingegaard, the 25-year-old Slovenian is aiming to become the first rider since Marco Pantani in 1998 to achieve the Giro-Tour double in the same year.
Everyone has designated him as the big favourite, starting with Remco Evenepoel who judged him “unbeatable” if he remains “safe and sound”.
Because “Pogi” destroyed the competition in May at the Tour of Italy, while his main rivals, Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglic were licking their wounds after a heavy collective fall at the Tour of the Basque Country.
Being in the Tour de France is “a victory in itself” and “the rest will be just a bonus,” Vingegaard, who suffered broken collarbones, ribs and a pneumothorax in the “really terrible” crash, said on Thursday.
Asked about the possibility of winning the Tour for a third consecutive year, he replied: “Honestly, I don’t know. I’ve worked a lot and I’m not in bad shape. I want to believe it but we have to wait and see.”
Hard blow, the Dane will not be able to count on his first lieutenant in the mountains, Sepp Kuss, withdrawn because he has not sufficiently recovered from Covid.
Several riders have been ill in recent weeks, including Frenchman David Gaudu, who has recovered, and Briton Tao Geoghegan Hart, who has withdrawn.
Unlike Pogacar, Vingegaard or Roglic, the Belgian Remco Evenepoel therefore presented himself with a mask on his face in front of the press.
“I don’t want to relive the same thing I experienced last year at the Giro, I just want to be careful,” said the Flemish rider, who in 2023 had to abandon the Giro d’Italia because of the virus, despite being the leader.
Evenepoel, who was also involved in the crash in the Basque Country with fractures to his collarbone and shoulder blade, will aim for “a stage victory” while wanting to “finish as high as possible in the general classification”, but without putting “any pressure” on himself.
“We know that Covid is making a comeback. We are careful to get back into the habit of barrier measures, even if the reflexes have been lost a little. We are facing the major event of the season,” commented the manager of the Décathlon-AG2R La Mondiale team, Vincent Lavenu.
Earlier this week, Tour director Christian Prudhomme told AFP that masks would be “made available” if needed, but that there would be no health protocols, as was the case at the height of the health crisis.
Far from his concerns, the atmosphere rose a notch on Thursday in Florence for the presentation of the teams in the early evening on the Piazzale Michelangelo, which overlooks the city, an open-air museum, and the Arno River.
This 111th edition marks the first departure from Italy in the history of the Tour de France, a hundred years after Ottavio Bottecchia’s first Italian victory in 1924.
It will end, after three weeks of fighting and suffering, on July 21 in Nice, and not in Paris as usual, because of the Olympic Games.
The route of the Tour de France 2024
© AFP
