'I almost blew up' - Tadej Pogacar digs deep in time trial as he's tipped to win EIGHT stages at 2025 Tour de France
By Ben Snowball
Updated 18/07/2025 at 18:58 GMT+1
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Tadej Pogacar produced another devastating performance at the Tour de France, storming to victory in a gruelling mountain time trial to extend his lead in yellow. Can the Slovenian equal the record of eight stage wins in a single Tour - and creep ever closer to Mark Cavendish's all-time tally? Pogacar is still 14 shy of the record, but Adam Blythe believes many more wins await in the 2025 race.
'No stopping' Pogacar on Stage 13 time trial as Vingegaard bounces back to hunt down Evenepoel
Video credit: TNT Sports
Tadej Pogacar admitted he "almost blew up" before powering to yet another victory at the Tour de France in a rare mountain time trial - as Adam Blythe tipped him to win a staggering eight stages this year.
Just 24 hours after crushing his rivals in the mountains to retake the yellow jersey, Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) dominated again, clocking his 21st career Tour stage win and stretching his general classification lead to 4'07" over Jonas Vingegaard.
The Dane (Visma-Lease a Bike) bounced back from a bruising day on Hautacam to take second place, overtaking his two-minute man Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) on the road. But the time gaps only reinforced the growing sense of inevitability about this race.
If there was any comfort for Pogacar's challengers, it came from the Slovenian's post-race comments as he revealed how close he came to cracking.
"I'm super happy," he said. "I was targeting to go from start to finish all out - to try to smash it as much as possible.
"I almost blew up in the end but I saw the timer on the top and it gave me an extra push because I saw that I was going to win."
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'I almost blew up' - Pogacar on brutal time trial with no radio for help
Video credit: TNT Sports
He continued: "I decided to go without a radio today. The tactic was all out from the beginning to the top, so I was just relying on the time checks.
"I saw that I was ahead in green at the first check, so this gave me motivation. The second one was a bit bigger, so I knew I was on a good time trial."
But the gradients still took their toll, as Pogacar added: "I was thinking 'don't blow up' - I almost did in the end - so at three kilometres [from the finish] I took a deep breath, reset a little bit and dropped the power because I knew the last kick was super steep," he said.
"I wanted to come to the last steep part with somewhat good legs."
This was Pogacar’s fourth win of the race in 2025, moving him closer to Mark Cavendish’s all-time record of 35 Tour stage victories.
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Could Pogacar really win eight stages?
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Pogacar 'stage hunting now' - and could win EIGHT stages at 2025 Tour de France
Video credit: TNT Sports
With a comfortable GC cushion, TNT Sports expert Blythe believes Pogacar can afford to go hunting for more wins.
"I firmly believe he's stage hunting now," he said. "He's got those time gaps which are comfortable.
"He's got another four stages, possibly five, that he could win in this Tour. I think he will probably try and go and get them."
The first of those opportunities could arrive on Saturday's Stage 14, a brutal day through the Pyrenees with the Col d’Aspin, Tourmalet and Peyresourde setting the tone before the final slog to Superbagneres (12.4km at 7.3%).
Three more mountain tests follow, with Stage 16 to Mont Ventoux kicking off a vicious final week. Stage 18 finishes on the Col de la Loze - where Pogacar once famously declared "I’m gone, I'm dead" on the team radio - before Stage 19 squeezes five climbs into just 130km of pure Alpine torture.
"Let's say eight in total that he could win at this Tour," added Blythe. "It's possible, which is bonkers."
But could eight even become nine given the revamped final stage?
Gone is the traditional Parisian procession, with a hilly circuit featuring three climbs of Montmartre - used in the Olympic road races - set to tempt the GC riders before the finish on the Champs-Elysees.
Only three riders in history have won eight stages in a single Tour: Freddy Maertens (1976), Eddy Merckx (1970, 1974), and Charles Pelissier (1930).
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