TakeVuelta2 weeks ago
The UCI jury closed the feed zone at 20km to go on a 34°C stage—then Pogačar asked for water at 15km to go and got no response from the commissar or organization car. A hard cutoff on paper becomes a safety gap on a day like this: heat, humidity, and a gravel descent where the race leader nearly went down.
Pogačar said it plainly: «if you don't have a bottle in the last 15-20 minutes it's a big pain in the ass.» That's not a complaint about comfort—it's a rider naming the exact stretch where the rules and the conditions stopped lining up. He still won the sprint against Enric Mas, but a stage that already nearly cost him the lead on the descent didn't need dehydration added to the risk column.
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