After the final criterium in Singapore and before heading off on holiday, the 34-year-old reflected to
L'Equipe on a year that nearly unravelled for
Tadej Pogačar. “On the stage to Valence [Stage 17], he told me, ‘Tim, we’ve got a problem, my knee really hurts.’ It was so bad that he went down to the car to see the doctor.
After the stage, he went to the hospital for tests. They found inflammation or something like that, but nobody knew. I was sure it would leak. He was really suffering, and we weren’t sure he could make it to the finish. We even thought about him abandoning.”
“Wellens still remembers the uncertainty in the team bus. “You could tell his body wasn’t right - he was bloated, he had gained weight,” he says. “Seeing him reach Paris was a huge relief. Everyone wondered why he wasn’t attacking, but now it makes sense. We were worried about him physically, but mentally he stayed strong.”