Tadej Pogacar complains of 'full headache' before Stage 4 as temperatures soar at 2026 Tour de France

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Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) said he was dealing with a "full headache" before Stage 4 of the 2026 Tour de France on Tuesday as temperatures reached 40 degrees Celsius during the race.

Highlights: Pedersen wins Stage 4 as Pogacar surrenders yellow jersey

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Pogacar, who came into Tuesday's stage as the general classification leader, surrendered the yellow jersey to Torstein Traeen (Uno-X Mobility).

Pogacar was seen being handed ice and water by his team-mates in an attempt to keep him cool, with the Slovenian saying that he was struggling before the race even began.

"We kept it cool in this heat. It was really when we started, I had a full headache and was thinking 'this is going to be one long day'," Pogacar told reporters, per Cyclingnews. "But then we kept showering each other with the water, and it was okay.

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"We knew if [Lidl]-Trek would go in the breakaway, or such a team, that it would probably be a breakaway day. Trek did a super good job, they had three guys in the front and we kept it cool, calm and we arrived to finish, I think, not spending a crazy amount of energy.

"Obviously, when you need to pull because of the jersey, you spend a bit but I think Nils [Politt], Florian [Vermeersch] and Tim [Wellens] were super good today at dividing the work and I think we did a good job. A good day overall."

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The conditions had already taken its toll on one of Pogacar's main rivals, Jonas Vingegaard, after the air conditioning on the Visma-Lease a Bike team bus failed, forcing the team to cycle from their hotel to the start under a police escort in sweltering conditions.

Traeen now has an almost eight-minute lead over Pogacar and Vingegaard, meaning Pogacar will be able to avoid the media duties that come with being the holder of the yellow jersey.

And he stressed how important that could be for his recovery with a long way to go on the Grand Tour, as he seeks to claim his fifth Tour de France title.

"I think you cannot measure [the benefits]: some days probably, it's a lot of stress with media, some days it's easy to do it. It just depends on the day, and it's hard to tell," the 27-year-old said.

"I've been back on the podium a lot of times and a lot of times doing the extra work. Today will be one and a half hours less obligation, so it definitely helps with the recovery.

Pedersen lauds 'masterpiece in teamwork' as Lidl-Trek 'machines' deliver Stage 4 success

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"But I think now I'm pretty used to also doing all the podium stuff and we have a good protocol. I have good helpers and people to help me stay cool and calm and recover as best as possible, even when we have the podium."

Pogacar is still the favourite to finish the Tour de France atop the podium but he explained that he believes Traeen and his team will keep the yellow jersey "for a long time".

"I mean, obviously the goal is to take back the yellow jersey," he 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."

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