After winning the Tour in 2020 and 2021 and having to concede to Dane Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) in 2022 and 2023, the Slovenian UAE Team Emirates rider is determined to win the prestigious race this year.

He has so far made it 80 career wins, including 17 this year alone, and enjoying the ride he desires to become the first man in the 21st century to win the Tour and the Giro d'Italia in the same season. The last rider who achieved this Grand Tour double in the same year was Italy's Marco Pantani in 1998.

He is already the first rider to have donned the Tour's yellow jersey and the Giro's pink in the same season since Australia's Cadel Evans in 2010.

Aiming to make history together with his UAE Team Emirates, Pogačar overshadowed the previous all-time top performances on the Pla d'Adet climb in stage 14 on 13 July and smashed the late Pantani's record on the Plateau de Beille in stage 15 a day later to put big time into his general classification rivals and deliver what experts have been describing as the best climbing performance in the history of cycling.

Pogačar himself told the virtual press conference that the numbers he dropped on the last climb are the best he has so far achieved in his career.

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates)cheered on in Stage 15 of the Tour de France. Photo: dpa/STA

Professional cycling is evolving so much, he said, noting that in the past few years the development has been rapid, improving technology, nutrition, training strategies and altitude camps. "We push each other to reach the new limits," he said talking about the major UCI racing teams.

He lauded Vingegaard's team for what they did in the latest stage. "Jonas came here prepared to fight for the victory. Yesterday they showed the balls finally and they hit hard," he said in reference to his previous statements of Visma-Lease a Bike's defensive riding strategy.

In stage 14, the Slovenian and his team performed a tactical masterclass, with Pogačar launching a satellite rider move from his teammate Adam Yates some 7 kilometres from the top of the climb. What followed was Pogačar exploding from his rivals to first catch up with Yates and then solo to his stage win.

In stage 15, he responded to Vingegaard's attack not even letting the Dane to eke out a small gap before attacking him himself and riding away to another victory.

Pogačar, 25, is happy about his current lead of three minutes and nine seconds over Vingegaard, seeing it as a luxury, but warns that there is still a long way to Nice, where the Tour will end this year due to Paris hosting the Summer Olympics.

Belgium's Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), whom Pogačar describes as "a super class rider", is third in the GC rankings, sitting 5:19 from the Slovenian.

Addressing the press on a Tour de France rest day, the current GC leader said that Vingegaard and his team will definitely try to attack him in the coming stages, but the best response will be to stay confident and race the way his team has been doing it so far.

He has no fears heading into the last week of the Tour, looking forward to what comes next, especially the climbs and the time trial.

He said the rest day has been great, admitting he indulged a little visiting a bakery together with his teammates. "Don't tell my nutritionists, but I had one of the best brownies I've ever eaten in my life."