Tadej Pogacar holds a commanding nearly five-minute lead in the Tour de France, a margin that felt like a lock for his fifth yellow jersey, but a sickness bug tearing through his UAE Team Emirates XRG teammates is suddenly casting a dark shadow over his seemingly certain victory. He has dominated this race virtually from the jump, looking unstoppable, yet Thursday’s Stage 18 to Orcieres-Merlette gave us all a reason to worry.
The Bug Is Real, and It’s Taking Down Key Riders
UAE Team Emirates XRG, usually a force in the mountains, just wasn’t as strong or prominent as we’re used to seeing. This bug is no joke, hitting some of Pogacar’s most crucial lieutenants. Brandon McNulty, who started Stage 18 battling a sore throat, was forced to abandon the race midway through. That’s a huge blow! And Adam Yates, another key rider, struggled through again after battling illness all week. Even Isaac del Toro has slipped back from Remco Evenepoel in the chase for second place behind Pogacar, though he did manage to stay with his team leader on that tough stage.
This whole situation has everyone speculating, especially when Pogacar himself fueled the talk by swapping his usual yellow shorts for a black pair. What’s going on behind the scenes? Key domestiques Tim Wellens and Florian Vermeersch are also reportedly dealing with illness as this brutal Tour nears its conclusion. It leaves you wondering just how much support Pogacar will have when it matters most.
Alpe d’Huez Looms With a Skeleton Crew
Pogacar admitted to The Guardian, “I’m sad that Brandon could not finish. We will see in the next two days but Adam is getting better, and tomorrow, we will go with the flow. I think we can manage. It’s the third week, all the teams are suffering. There are bodies everywhere on a stage like today. We will keep fighting and I believe we can do it.” That fighting spirit is what we love to see, but the team’s health is a massive question mark.
With so many riders struggling, greater importance now falls on Nils Pollitt and Felix Grossschartner. These guys need to be absolute rocks to guide Pogacar and Del Toro through the next three days, especially with Jonas Vingegaard already out of the race after a heavy crash, leaving UAE pushing for a one-two finish. Pollitt put it best: “Thank goodness Isaac and Tadej are feeling good, and so are Felix and I. We are trying to separate ourselves from the team as much as possible in order to simply minimise the risk. Many riders are ill in the bunch, you hear from every team that there’s something going around. That is simply part of three weeks. I’ve never got to the end of a Tour without sick hands.”
The peloton faces two absolutely defining mountain tests: back-to-back stages finishing on the iconic Alpe d’Huez. Stage 19, a 127.9km route, hits the summit with a brutal 13.8km climb at an eight percent average gradient. And Saturday? Another finish on Alpe d’Huez and the beast that is Col du Galibier, the highest peak in this year’s race. Can Pogacar and his depleted squad hold it together through these epic climbs? We’re about to find out if this bug changes everything for the yellow jersey.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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