Tadej Pogacar still holds the Yellow Jersey after Stage 18, but he has lost Brandon McNulty, and the UAE Team Emirates XRG squad appears depleted as the Tour de France nears its conclusion.
“I was expecting something like this. Now we know that the breakaways are going bananas from the start every day. The top ten GC riders are a bit worried about their places. This means full gas from start to finish, more or less, but it was quite a calm day for me. We sadly lost Brandon [McNulty] today. He felt ill, and I wish him a speedy recovery. I hope he will be good for the Paris afterparty.”
"It sucks to lose Brandon because he was such a valuable rider until now, and I think Adam [Yates] is coming back, getting better. He didn't need to overdo it today. He was already better than yesterday. I think tomorrow is a relatively good stage for Adam to survive and not spend too much energy, and I hope he will be good for Saturday, because Saturday it’s going to be important to have a strong team.”
Being aggressive or defensive? "If the situation is like this, and the guys don't get better from the sickness, then yeah, you never know what you have to do in the end. You need to ride on instinct, but I believe all will be good with the team, and we will survive the next two days."
