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Tadej Pogačar is in a giving mood at this Tour de France.
And in allowing Torstein Træen to put a chasm between himself and the yellow jersey on stage 4 on Tuesday, Pogačar has given a gift that suits everyone.
Because Pogi isn’t worried about being on his biggest-ever gap from the front of the Tour de France.
He’s almost relishing the thought of being 7:53 away from the palaver that comes with the yellow jersey.
“Some days it’s a lot of stress with the media and some days it’s easy to do it,” Pogačar said Tuesday of the obligations of a GC leader. “It just depends on the day.
“I’ve been back on the podium a lot of times, and a lot of times doing all the extra work,” Pogačar said. “Today will be one hour and a half less obligations. That definitely helps with the recovery.”
Træen’s historic ride on stage 4 of the Tour is the first yellow jersey in Uno-X Mobility’s short history.
It’s a remarkable turnaround for Træen, a rider who was diagnosed with cancer only four years ago. He’s now 7:53 ahead of both Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard, the riders who dominated the Tour de France for the last 5 years.
That’s a good news story for the Tour, for Uno-X Mobility … and for Pogačar.
It frees the rider who’s worn yellow more than 50 times of all the obligatory nuisance that goes with the maillot.
Pogačar was almost hubristically nonchalant when speaking about “losing” his yellow jersey on Tuesday.
He’ll take it back when he wants it, thank you very much.
“I mean, obviously the goal is to take back the yellow jersey,” Pogačar said. “But you never know, they are really good, and now it’s quite a big gap, so we will see, no?
“We will fight, but I think they can keep the yellow jersey in the team for a long time,” he said.
Træen repeats red jersey feat with yellow jersey raidPogačar has already been accused of arrogance at this Tour de France. He makes winning so easy that he happily put Isaac del Toro in his debt by allowing the Mexican to win stage 2.
But, barring madness or disaster, Træen poses only a background threat to Pogačar.
Pogačar “gifting” the breakaway a huge advantage on Tuesday made sense for everyone – even rival GC teams like Visma-Lease a Bike.
Because while Træen is a standout rider who’s no stranger to leading grand tours, he’s not one who will survive a superteam onslaught in the highest mountains of week 3.
When Træen broke out by wearing the red jersey for four days at the 2025 Vuelta a España, Vingegaard munched his 2:33 gap in two quick bites.
Traeen haemorrhaged 1:46 to Vingegaard and the pure climbers on a grippy mountain finish on stage 9 and lost more than a minute the very next day.
He ultimately finished the Vuelta in 9th, 10 minutes behind Vingegaard.
That’s a total swing of more than 12 minutes from his initial GC advantage.
Træen and Uno-X know it’s not a matter of if he loses the yellow jersey, but when.
“Yeah, of course, the Tour is the Tour,” Træen said Tuesday at his winner’s conference. “I will enjoy it [the jersey] every day I can. I just hope that I can wear it as long as possible.”
Træen could wear yellow for some time, but Pogačar and the superteams will fight for it in Paris
Torstein Træen poses a problem for GC outsiders, but not for the yellow jersey bigs. (Photo: Jeff Pachoud / AFP)
Of course, Træen’s 2:33 gap at the Vuelta was only a third of his huge 7:53 advantage over Pogačar and Vingegaard at the Tour.
He and U.S. climber Sean Quinn, who’s currently in second, stand to top the GC for a very long time – maybe as long as a week.
Stage 6 over the Tourmalet on Thursday is a “fake news” mountain stage that finishes with a 17km descent and a 19km false-flat uphill. It will shift but not reshape the general classification.
The first truly damaging mountain stages of this Tour de France don’t arrive until the end of week 2 in the Vosges.
Until then, the Tour de France becomes a two-tier GC race:
1. Træen and Quinn wrestling for yellow and hope to stay away from the superteams for as long as possible.
2. Eight minutes behind them, UAE Emirates-XRG, Visma-Lease a Bike, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, and Lidl-Trek scrapping among themselves and waiting for the inevitable.
“We don’t have to take Træen into account as a podium contender,” Red Bull DS Klaas Lodewyck told HLN after the stage on Tuesday. “It’s nice for him, but there are other things coming up in this Tour.”
The GC bigs might not see Traeen as a problem. The outsiders hunting a top-10 in Paris should.
Riders on the fringes of the GC battle might wish they didn’t let Tuesday’s superstar break get so far.
Now Uno-X Mobility has two cards
Uno-X Mobility is primarily focused on Johannessen’s Tour de France GC bid. (Photo: Gruber Images)
Uno-X Mobility was on Cloud 9 after stage 4. Traeen made their race by winning the team’s first yellow jersey.
But the 30-year-old is not Uno-X’s final priority.
Team boss Thor Hushovd said Tuesday the team is all-in for Tobias Halland Johannessen.
After finishing top-5 of Tirreno-Adriatico, Itzulia Basque Country, and the Tour Auvergne-Rhones-Alpes, the pure climber has a realistic chance of bettering his sixth-place Tour de France finish last summer.
“He [Træen] does have some margin, but our main goal remains Johannessen and his general classification. That doesn’t change. Although we won’t just throw the jersey away,” Hushovd told reporters at the finish on Tuesday.
Uno-X Mobility is prepared to fight for yellow at this Tour de France. Træen could own the maillot for some time.
Meanwhile, Pogačar and Vingegaard will enjoy the luxury of chipping away at their deficit while steering clear of the yellow jersey problem.
And Uno-X Mobility is also lucky enough to have a luxury problem – keep Træen in yellow for as long as possible while chasing a longer-term GC with Johannessen.
“He [Johannessen] was sixth last year, and we will try to do better this year,” Hushovd said. “We think we’re in a good position and leading the Tour de France gives more motivation to the group.”