I don’t take shortcuts: Pogacar
LEADER Tadej Pogacar understands he could be questioned about doping if he retains his Tour de France title this year because of the sport’s history but says he does not take shortcuts, reports BBC.com.
The 22-year-old Slovenian leads Rigoberto Uran by five minutes, 18 seconds with six stages remaining.
He won on his Tour debut last year. “I’m a good kid with a good education, I’m not one to take shortcuts,” Pogacar said.
He added: “These doping questions are uncomfortable questions because the sport’s history is bad and I understand those questions.
“I didn’t prepare anything for those kind of questions. I just like to ride my bike and what comes with it comes with it, I’ll deal with it.
No leader with an advantage of more than two minutes going into the final week has lost the overall lead since 2000.
The only exception was in 200 , when Dane Michael Rasmussen was sacked by his team and kicked out of the Tour for lying about his training whereabouts.
However, Pogacar is not expecting an easy final week at the Tour. He added: “The hardest one is stage 1 , but even tomorrow stage 16 something could happen, as well as in stage 18 to Luz Ardiden.
“If you have a bad day, anything can happen.”
On Sunday, Sepp Kuss broke away on the final climb to win stage 15 of the Tour de France, as Tadej Pogacar strengthened his grip on the yellow jersey.
The American rode clear on the ascent of the Col de Beixalis and comfortably held off Alejandro alverde.
Pogacar repelled several attacks on the punishing 191. km stage to Andorre-La- ieille as he extended his race lead.
French hope Guillaume Martin dropped from second to ninth in the general classification. Britain’s Mark Cavendish rolled over the line with just under nine minutes to spare from the cut-off time and will retain the green jersey as the points classification leader when the race resumes after Monday’s rest day.