"It was just a normal day in the office, more or less," Tadej Pogačar exhaled at the end of his press conference at Superdévoluy on Wednesday afternoon. And, in the life less ordinary of the maillot jaune of the Tour de France, it probably qualified as such.
On the bike, Pogačar instigated a late scrap among the podium contenders when he delivered an unprovoked jab on the upper reaches of the Col du Noyer. "No, it was a stupid instinct," Pogačar smiled when asked if it had been planned.
Off the bike, Pogačar found himself clarifying that, on mature recollection and contrary to his remarks in Nîmes 24 hours earlier, he did know what a carbon monoxide rebreather was after all. He also confirmed that he had used the equipment on one occasion, describing it as a "simple test" to measure the impact of altitude training.
It doesn't require an expensive set of equipment to determine that the atmosphere around Pogačar and the Tour de France itself has changed in recent days. The supersonic climbing displays seen at Plateau de Beille on Sunday marked the turning point, much like the one Jonas Vingegaard encountered after the Combloux time trial a year ago or the one Chris Froome would have detected after his startling ascent of Mont Ventoux back in 2013.
In recent days, the headlines and questions have drifted from the minutiae of the race and towards the bigger picture. For the past quarter of a century, for better or for ill, the yellow jersey of the Tour has been examined as a bellwether for the probity of the peloton at large. At some point across the three weeks, the scrutiny eventually takes centre stage.
"A domination that raises questions," ran the headline in L'Équipe on Wednesday morning, three days after the late Marco Pantani's tarnished record ascent of Plateau de Beille had been beaten by an estimated 3:40.
The questions included the use of a carbon monoxide rebreather, which Pogačar had tried to brush off with humour on Tuesday afternoon. Escape Collective reported last week that UAE Team Emirates, Visma-Lease a Bike and Israel Premier Tech have all used the equipment, though each team stressed that they had used it purely for testing purposes to "optimise" their altitude training. The practice is not banned by WADA.
"Yesterday, I didn't quite understand the question. It was not a question posed like this," Pogačar said when it was put to him that his UAE team had already confirmed their use of the equipment.
"It's a test in altitude camp to see how you respond to altitude. You need to do this test, it's like a two- or three-minute-long test. You breathe into a balloon for one minute and then you see the haemoglobin mass, and then you need to repeat it two weeks after.
"But I did just the first part of the test. I never did the second part because the girl who was supposed to come after two weeks didn't come. It's not like we're breathing exhaust pipes every day in the cars. It's just a pretty simple test to see how you respond to altitude training."
Over the past two days, meanwhile, social media has been abuzz with talk of Pogačar's changed 2024 training regime thanks to the posts of a mysterious figure called 'Mou' that appeared on the Cyclingnews forum earlier in the year.
Pogačar smiled when asked if he could shed any light on the identity of the person claiming to possess such detailed knowledge of the internal workings of UAE Team Emirates and his training practices under new coach Javier Sola.
"Maybe I should ask to you guys if you know who this is because I have no idea who this guy is," Pogačar said. "But yeah, I've heard in the last two days he's getting a lot of attention. I think he gets some things right, but mostly he gets it also wrong.
"I don't know who this guy is and what's his purpose. I think he just tries to be important on Twitter and forums or whatever, but I don't follow, I just heard a lot. People are asking. Maybe we will all together find out who the guy is."
Visma-Lease a Bike
All the while, the Tour de France continues, and with the same astonishing intensity that has characterised it since it left Florence. Although stage 17 finished in the Alps and included three climbs: the Col Bayard, Col de Noyer and Superdévoluy, the average speed was an eye-watering 43.3kph, with the peloton splintering into shards amid constant attacking in the opening half of the stage.
Even though a sizeable winning break later forged clear, Pogačar couldn't resist springing onto the offensive on the upper slopes of the Noyer, scattering the yellow jersey group across the mountainside as he punched clear, while Remco Evenepoel and Vingegaard scrambled in pursuit.
They eventually caught up to Pogačar over the other side, with Evenepoel jumping away himself on the category 3 haul to the line. Pogačar, meanwhile, was content to track Vingegaard before ripping clear of the Dane in the final 200m to add another pair of seconds to his overall lead. With four days remaining, Pogačar is 3:11 clear of Vingegaard and 5:09 up on Evenepoel.
"It was a stupid instinct but at least I tested the legs for the third week," Pogačar said. "I think I'm going into the third week in good shape, and I think I also put a bit of pressure on Jonas and Remco. Remco did a great attack also in the final, he took some seconds, and for sure that stressed out Jonas a bit."
Around the midpoint of the stage, Visma-Lease a Bike had been among the most persistent aggressors, dispatching Tiesj Benoot, Wout van Aert and Christophe Laporte up the road, though it wasn't clear if their aim was to target stage victory or to try to knock Pogačar off his stride.
"It's a good question, it's hard to answer what they wanted today," Pogačar said. "But I think they saved the day pretty good, because they had a super team in the front, and they waited to help Jonas after my attack."
Vingegaard and his Visma-Lease a Bike guard will surely look to probe Pogačar at greater length when the race hits the Maritime Alps later in the week for summit finishes at Isola 2000 and the Col de la Couillole. The questions will continue until Nice, and Pogačar surely knows it.
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