In the melee after the finish line, Tadej Pogačar burst through a bubble of journalists, photographers and camera crews. "Guys, please," he pleaded, pushing them aside. The Slovenian wanted to get to his teammates, Juan Ayuso and João Almeida, his two mountain lieutenants, who teed up his stage-winning attack 800m from the summit of the Col du Galibier.
When Pogačar reached them, he pulled them into an embrace. It was hard to hear what he told them exactly, his voice drowned out by the clicking of camera shutters, but their smiles told the story. Only four days in, on the biggest mountain day yet at the Tour de France, UAE Team Emirates lit the fuse on the general classification.
