Few rated Taddei Pogachar, who won in the last minute in 2020 and dominated the race last year, as anything other than an absolute frontrunner for this year's Tour de France.

But the Col du Granon, Jumbo Visma, and Jonas Vingegaard happened, forcing the 23-year-old Pogachar into a position that was almost unthinkable before the Tour: a distant second place in the race to Paris on Sunday.

After suffering a crushing defeat on stage 11, Pogachar seized every opportunity to regain lost ground. But despite his headlong refusal to surrender, his Tour GC record stood at 1-1-2.

After the stage 20 time trial, Pogachal admitted that he and the UAE Team Emirates team made many mistakes during the race.

"We gained a lot from this Tour. Many mistakes we made, and many good things.

"I think we have a good chance for next year. We can try to do a lot of things better. I think we can do that."

The standout mistakes were Jumbo Visma's repeated attacks in Galibier and the lack of feeding that led to Pogachar's shocking fall in the Col de Granon.

Pogachar admitted that he was "too motivated" to keep up with Vingegaard and Primos Rogulic in Galibier and would later pay the price for his efforts.

"The mistake I made was to stage to Granon's col. 'I was too eager to keep up with everyone. That was one mistake, but there are still others."

"COVID-19 had bad luck before and during the Tour. 'We finished the race with four riders. We could talk all day about many factors, but that is something we will have to analyze after the Tour."

However, he said that as a result of what happened on stage 11, he does not intend to change his aggressive riding style, which he then attacked on stages 12, 14, 16, 17, 18, and 19.

"It was only one stage. The stages before and after were really good and I enjoyed the race. I'm not going to change my riding style."

Pogachar added another eight seconds in the Rocamadour time trial and is determined to finish 3:34 behind Vingegaard in the Tour on Sunday.

"A lot of people want a different winner every year. 'I don't think it's too bad that the standings change every year. I just found a strong opponent and it motivates me to do better next year."

"In this Tour, their team had few weaknesses. They lost two riders, but in the end it didn't seem like they lost any riders, probably because they had four riders. They really rode perfectly in this Tour, and they won because they rode perfectly.

"Next year I hope to be luckier and do better in the little things so I can equal this year's Tour. I like challenges in life and this year I had a big challenge, Jonas. I strongly hope to overcome this obstacle in the next race and in the next Tour de France."