“It wasn’t that bad, just like a cold”: Tadej Pogačar says Covid is “not that serious anymore” after revealing he got the virus just 10 days before the Tour de France + more on the live blog

Jonas Vingegaard, Primož Roglič and Remco Evenepoel — and now we add Covid-19 to that list of enemies.

When we attended the pre-race press conference last night we assumed we would be briefed on some additional information, but did anyone expect to hear that Pogačar, who most had been grooming to wear the maillot jaune in Nice on July 21, had just recovered from Covid less than two weeks ago?

“My grandfather passed away and I went to Slovenia to have closure and see the family,” he said. “It was a bit of a journey, but it was very important to me. Then I went back to training camp (in the French Alps) but got sick and got Covid. That was a bit of a question mark… but I have recovered very well from it.”

He then revealed that he had tested positive for the coronavirus “about ten days ago” but that it had not affected his training and form.

He added: “It wasn’t that bad, like a cold. It went away very quickly. Especially if your body has had the virus before and I’ve had it once or twice. It wasn’t that bad, like a cold. It went away very quickly. I stopped for a day and then did some rollers inside. When I wasn’t sick anymore, I rode outside.”

He said https://t.co/7woujQ8yLl pic.twitter.com/MuBvSKmS1W

— #SiempreGino (@NairoInGreen) June 27, 2024

Umm, maybe tell that to Visma-Lease a Bike’s Sepp Kuss and Lidl-Trek’s Tao Geoghegan Hart, both of whom catch the bug and are disqualified from the Tour de France just days before tomorrow’s Grand Départ in Florence.

The 25-year-old Slovenian, who has just won the Giro d’Italia and is aiming to become the first man to win the Giro-Tour double since Marco Pantani’s 1998 triumph, will be hoping his words don’t come back to haunt him and that he can remain in top form against his biggest rivals, all three of whom have had to recover from injuries sustained in the horrific crash in the Tour of the Basque Country.

While Primož Roglič was lucky to escape without fractures from that high-speed crash during one of the descents of the Spanish stage race, the winner of the 2022 Vuelta a España, Remco Evenepoel, suffered a broken collarbone and a fracture to his right shoulder blade, while two-time Tour winner Jonas Vingegaard suffered a broken collarbone and several broken ribs, as well as a collapsed lung.

Since then, Evenepoel has managed to recover and compete in the Critérium du Dauphiné, where he finished seventh overall. The race against the clock to fully recover for Vingegaard was a lot tougher, however, as the Dane was with the Visma team until the very last moment.

> “He has to be the old Jonas again”: Visma-Lease a Bike DS says Vingegaard will decide for himself whether or not to go to the Tour de France

Tadej to go and Jonas Vingegaard for stage 15, 2023 Tour de France (ASO/Pauline Ballet)

However, Pogačar said he is happy to see Vingegaard back and is excited to race against him for the top prize. He said: “It’s good to see him at the start. I think he is ready, because otherwise I don’t think he would be at the start. It’s something I’m looking forward to, making another great show.

“I think the relationship between me and Jonas is extraordinary and that we always meet in July. It’s crazy that we drive ourselves into history as rivals. I have a lot of respect for him.”

Just two days ago, Pogačar – after having a phenomenal season in 2024, in which he won the Strade Bianche, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the Tour of Catalonia and the Giro d’Italia in dominant fashion – gave an ominous sign for the rest of the peloton, claiming that he has never felt better on the bike and that his “shape is even better than he expected”.

He said: “I’ve been training well and testing my legs a bit and honestly I’ve never felt better on the bike. I’m really looking forward to seeing if I’ve improved in the race situations from the Giro, but I feel good so I can’t complain!”

> Was Tadej Pogačar’s Giro d’Italia victory boring? And does it matter?