Tadej Pogacar had a straight face when he did it.
“Actually, me and Isaac are big rivals,” the Slovenian told reporters at the post-Tour press conference in Paris on Sunday. “We’re just playing that we’re friends in front of the camera.”
Isaac del Toro, sitting alongside him with the white jersey for best young rider draped over his shoulders, laughed. The two had crossed the finish line arm-in-arm at the ceremonial stage 21 in Paris, capping three weeks in which the 22-year-old Mexican rookie had ridden into third overall on his Tour debut.
Pogacar had already equaled the all-time record of five Tour titles, joining Eddy Merckx, Miguel Indurain, Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault. At 27, he is the youngest man ever to reach the mark. The idea that he needs to worry about his 22-year-old teammate is, for now, a joke.
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The dynamic behind the joke
Del Toro spent most of the last three weeks working for Pogacar. In the final week, Pogacar returned the favour on the road to Alpe d’Huez, protecting his teammate’s podium slot against 19-year-old French climber Paul Seixas, who was dropped on the Galibier before eventually finishing fourth overall.
“We clicked quite quick when he came to the team,” Pogacar told reporters in an AFP interview after the race. “We had good energy around each other, good relationship, good humour. Then we did some races together, he was always there for me 100 percent.”
Team principal Mauro Gianetti went further, calling the bond between them “amazing.”
What Del Toro delivered
Del Toro is the first Mexican to finish on a Tour de France podium. He rolled into Paris third overall, 9 minutes 42 seconds behind Pogacar, and picked up the white jersey without close competition. Belgian Remco Evenepoel took second at 6:26.
Pogacar’s numbers from the three weeks: five stage wins, 16 days in yellow and a new Alpe d’Huez record of 35 minutes 27 seconds on stage 19, breaking Marco Pantani’s 1995 mark that had stood for 31 years. His career Tour stage-win tally is now 26.
Del Toro was making his Tour debut. He had already won stage 2 in Barcelona early in the race with Pogacar’s blessing, calling himself “a very privileged guy” and thanking his leader for the gift.
Not entirely a joke
Pogacar himself pointed to Del Toro earlier in the Tour as a rider capable of winning the race outright, and Del Toro said of Pogacar: “For me, from what I’ve seen first-hand, he’s the best,” while adding, in the same breath, that he was “always trying to annoy him.” Two of the sport’s top general classification riders now share a bus, a training block and, occasionally, the same road at the same speed.
Pogacar next lines up at the Pogi Challenge criterium in Slovenia later this week before turning his attention to the World Championships. Del Toro rides on with UAE Team Emirates-XRG through the autumn calendar.
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