“The Covid can ruin everything on the Tour”, explains Tadej Pogacar – L’Équipe

“Did you target this 8th step?
I knew the finale was good enough for me, not the best it could be, but good enough. When I saw the other teams controlling the peloton today, I expected a sprint at the end. I fought for the win but obviously I wasn’t the fastest. Third is still very good for me. Have you suffered from the heat?
The first half of the stage was fine, then it got very hot, it was moving, it was nervous. I feel better when it rains, definitely. But even when the conditions are difficult like today, even if I don’t feel as good, it’s the same for everyone. Your teammate Vegard Laengen had to leave the Tour, positive for Covid-19…
Yes, he was the big guy in the team, very strong and in good condition. He represented our train to take us everywhere, he trained the team behind him. It will be hard without him but I think that even at seven, we can manage to defend the yellow jersey until Paris. “We can’t risk running sick so we have to take the virus seriously” Does the Covid concern you?
Yes this is a real concern. Two riders were affected (with Geoffrey Bouchard). This pandemic is here, and unfortunately we are not spared, we cannot risk running sick so we must take this seriously. We are on the road every day, in the mountains there are a lot of people cheering you on and shouting at you. This is something that I really like but it increases the chances of getting infected with the virus. I hope everything will be fine until the end. What is your protocol within the UAE team?
We test ourselves every three days, some even every two days. Yesterday (Friday) evening we were all negative, then overnight Vegard had a sore throat. So he tested again this (Saturday) morning and he had a positive result. It is truly a worrying situation. The Covid can ruin everything on the Tour. »