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Enric Mas inherited the red jersey when Pogačar crashed out — and refused to wear it on the podium, only holding it up. That refusal says more about the peloton's mood than any tactical shakeup: this was grief, not opportunism.
«To get the red jersey thanks to a crash, it's not a good feeling,» Mas said, and the field backed him up with its riding: the peloton held a steady pace after the crash, with no team attacking a stricken rival. Even Bryan Coquard's first-ever Grand Tour stage win, at 34, landed as a footnote to the day rather than a celebration. Ten Grand Tour starts, ten top-three finishes — until stage 8 broke that record, and the peloton seemed to know exactly what had been lost.
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