Tadej Pogacar feels Tour de France 2025 route designed to scare him as Jonas Vingegaard plots final-week fightback

With the Tour de France heading to the Mont Ventoux and the Alps, Tadej Pogacar is set to be tested in ways he has not yet been in the opening two weeks of racing. And despite holding an overall lead exceeding four minutes, the defending champion has not ruled out the possibility of being usurped by rival Jonas Vingegaard - but is "looking forward" to the challenge ahead.

Tadej Pogacar's (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) dominant Tour de France lead is set to be tested in the third week as the race heads to Mont Ventoux, but the defending champion insists he is not viewing it with trepidation.

Pogacar holds a lead of over four minutes on his main rival, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) - but with the race entering challenging territory brimming with climbs, the Slovenian has not forgotten his previous tussles with the Dane in mountainous terrain.

Notably, in 2021, Vingegaard dropped Pogacar on Stage 11's double ascent of Mont Ventoux. Though recovering to breeze past his rival on the descent, it was a first real sign of vulnerability for Pogacar. Despite that, the 21-time Tour stage winner said: "I actually like all these climbs.

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"I like Mont Ventoux, it's super iconic, and Col de la Loze is one of the hardest climbs I've ever done in my career, so I'm looking forward to these two stages.

"I will not say that I'm looking for revenge or something, I just want to have better legs than those two days in the past. That's all, I'm looking forward to it."

He added: "Obviously, this year, the parcours was... I'm almost confident to say that it was designed to give me a bit of scaredness, because we've been to Hautacam and we are going to Mont Ventoux and Col de la Loze, where Jonas dropped me all three times.

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"But I always look at it as a race situation, it's not about the climb that it suits better or worse or whatever, it's just the race situation and how the race is going. Because I think all the climbs are more or less the same, 10-15km climbs, if they are 15km at 10% it's just stats and it's not about what name it carries."

Monday's rest allowed Pogacar time to reflect on his Tour lead. Vingegaard sits 4'13" behind, while Remco Evenepoel's (Soudal Quick-Step) abandonment has opened the door to Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) for a temporary podium spot - though he is 7'53" behind Pogacar.

While such standings would point towards Pogacar already having one hand on retaining the yellow jersey, he struck off any suggestion the result is a foregone conclusion.

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"I'm pretty confident in myself, I mean, I have to be," he said. "But I'm also pretty sure that Jonas can be confident as well, because he's in really good shape, like we saw in the TT and the day after in Superbagneres, he was really flying.

"I need to keep focused, I need to keep eating well, sleeping well, and keep this mood that we have in this group, keep up the motivation, and be confident for the last week, because I think it's going to be tough, but we are ready for a fight with everybody, especially with Jonas."

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Video credit: TNT Sports

Suggestions of Vingegaard's confidence were backed up by the Danish rider's comments earlier on Monday, feeling he is "normally strongest in the third week".

"I do still think that I can win it," Vingegaard said. "Of course, it looks very hard, now, it's a big gap, but I still think I can do it."

The Tour continues with Stage 16 on Tuesday as riders head towards the punishing Mont Ventoux - with the action available to watch via TNT Sports and discovery+.

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