Pogacar acts as domestique for Del Toro, helping him secure Tour de France podium

Tadej Pogacar admitted today just how difficult it is to work for others, leaving his UAE Emirates teammate Isaac del Toro emotional as the Mexican prepares to step onto the final podium of the Tour de France.

Pogacar: "An Honor to Ride for Isaac"

"Maybe people talk about how I helped Isaac get to the podium, but first he helped me get to the yellow jersey, and the team even more," the Slovenian said in a flash interview.

The yellow jersey turned domestique for Del Toro on the Galibier, more than 60 kilometers from the finish, creating an unprecedented image in Grand Tour racing. Pogacar pulled the top-five group in the general classification almost to the end, even waiting for the Mexican when Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull) — who will finish as runner-up in Paris — attacked.

"Today, it was an honor to ride for Isaac during the last two hours or hour and a half of the race. I did it with pleasure and realized how difficult it is to work for others," Pogacar said.

He added: "I was very good in this Tour, the team too, but there were also misfortunes for opponents. In three weeks, a lot of crap can happen, and we managed to survive."

This was a clear reference to the abandonments due to crashes of his archrival Jonas Vingegaard (Visma) and Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull), who finished third last year.

Final Stage Shortened

With only 89 kilometers to ride in central Paris — after the final stage was shortened due to the mobilization of security resources for fires raging in the country — Pogacar did not confirm whether he would attempt to repeat his "crazy" attack on the climb to Montmartre.

"There's no Wout [van Aert, who won the stage in 2025] this year, so that's one less big opponent on the Champs-Élysées. It's not a big goal, but if I have good legs, I can try, without taking risks," he concluded.

Del Toro: "Quite Emotional"

After his leader spoke, Isaac del Toro appeared before the media and revealed he was "quite emotional" about the domestique work of the yellow jersey.

"It was something never seen before. I've never felt so much pressure in my life, and I like to think that pressure is for privileged people," he said.

"The team had difficult moments in the third week, we tried to hide them so they wouldn't see us weak, but it wasn't easy to finish on the podium while being sick," he confessed, admitting for the first time that he was affected by the virus that weakened UAE.

The 22-year-old Mexican knows well what it's like to see a certain place slip away on the penultimate stage, having lost the pink jersey to Simon Yates due to a team strategic error on the eve of the Giro 2025 finale.

"I am very happy and grateful for the opportunity the team gave me and that Tadej committed himself to me like that," added the rookie, who will also step onto the podium as winner of the youth classification.

Evenepoel: "A Great Tour"

Someone who was in the same position as Del Toro was Evenepoel — third and best young rider in Tour 2024 — who demonstrated in the 113th Tour de France that he can climb with the best, finishing second today on Alpe d'Huez, 26 seconds behind Carapaz.

"I was a bit disappointed not to have won the stage, because I came very close, but that's my mentality, to always want more. I did what I could," Evenepoel said.

"I was 20 seconds from the stage win, second place in the general classification, two stage victories, some second and third places. It was a great Tour, I'm very happy for myself and the team," he summarized.

Champion of the Vuelta 2022, the Belgian was the big unknown of this Grande Boucle, from which he emerges strengthened, showing he was right to leave his long-time team Soudal Quick-Step for Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe.

"It was difficult to reach this level. With patience and hard work behind the scenes, I finally managed it. I am very satisfied with the result. Not everyone can say they were second in the Tour, especially in recent years, where there have only been Pogacar and Vingegaard," he stressed.

The double Olympic champion, 26, will be the first Belgian since Lucien van Impe in 1981 to step onto the second step of the podium in Paris.

Seixas Misses Top Three

Missing the top three was Paul Seixas (Decathlon), the 19-year-old who broke down today and will have to settle for fourth place in his debut.

"My legs weren't good enough, and my head wasn't either. That's why I broke down," the Frenchman explained, adding that he is nonetheless "proud" of his Tour.