Tadej Pogacar maintained his position at the top of the 2026 Tour de France overall standings after passing the 12th stage which ended in Chalon-sur-Saône, central France.
Pogacar said the stage had been relatively calm until the Lidl-Trek team started launching attacks in the final stretch.
"Everything was going smoothly until Lidl-Trek started attacking, and then the race got tougher. From our side, everything was fine," Pogacar was quoted as saying by the Tour de France on Friday.
The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider said his team was able to cope with the increased pace of the race in the final stages, thus maintaining their lead in the overall standings ahead of this weekend's mountain stages.
The 12th stage ended with a mass sprint won by Belgian rider Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step). Merlier outpaced Olav Kooij and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) to secure his third stage win of this year's Tour de France.
