Matej Mohoric jumped across the finish line at Poligny at the same moment as Caspar Asgreen, but he had to wait a little longer to learn that he had won stage 19 of the Tour de France. But he had to wait a little longer to learn that he had won stage 19 of the Tour de France. Tears welled up in the Slovenian's eyes when he saw the results of the photo finish shortly thereafter.

"It's hard and brutal to be a professional cyclist," he said. 'You suffer a lot to prepare, you sacrifice your life and your family, you do whatever you can to prepare. And after a couple of days, you realize how incredibly strong everyone is.

Mohoric won two stages at the 2021 Tour, but struggled in last year's race, and it was discovered after the race that he had Epstein-Barr syndrome. Meanwhile, he had a strong 2023 season at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, but his spring campaign was derailed by a string of crashes.

Mohoric took a stage win and second place overall at last month's Tour of Slovenia, which he described as "the best legs of my life," but his preparation for the Tour de France was completely overshadowed by the crash at the Tour de Suisse that week of his Bahrain-Victorias teammate Gino Mader. His preparation for the Tour de France was completely overshadowed by the tragic death of his Bahrain-Victorias teammate Gino Mader in a crash at the Tour de Suisse that week.

"Sometimes I spend more time with my teammates than with my family. 'Luckily, I wasn't in Switzerland. It makes me doubt my career and what I'm doing."

After Pero Bilbao and Wout Poels, Mohoric became the third Bahrain-Victoria rider to win a stage at the 2023 Tour. He followed his teammate in paying tribute to the late Medel after his victory, explaining that he was inspired by the Swiss rider's third-place finish in the Puy de Dome on stage 9.

"In 2021, I wouldn't have been fighting for the win on a climb like that. He just couldn't do it anymore, so I wanted to do what I do best."

With an explosive stage in the Vosges and a sprint on the Champs-Elysées coming up this weekend, the hilly course to Poligny on Friday was Mohoric's last chance to win this Tour. Despite the rolling terrain, the stage was ridden at an average speed of 49.13 km/h.

Mohoric created a 34-man breakaway, then attacked with Caspar Asgreen (Soudal-Quick Step) and Ben O'Connor (AG2R-Citroen) in the Ivory Coast with 30km to go, and the trio eventually fought to the finish in Poligny.

O'Connor, given his relative lack of speed, began his sprint from a bit of a distance, but Asgreen overtook him just before the finish line. Asgreen tried to win the stage for the first time in two days, but was overtaken by Mohoric.

"If I sprinted with Kasper 100 times in training, I would lose all 100 times," smiled Mohoric, suggesting it was a victory of calm, analytical thinking.

"I may not have the best peak output or the best sprints, but I can run pretty good in all aspects of the race.

"I get very emotional after the race, but not during the race. Instead, I try to assess the situation as if I were the sportif director and make the best decisions. Some riders get emotional and make mistakes. I try to imagine how the race would look on TV or from a helicopter. I am probably more analytical than other riders."

Mohoric's decision to forgo the road race at next month's Road World Championships in Glasgow was also born out of this critical thinking. He won the junior Rainbow Band in Valkenburg in 2012 and the under-23 Rainbow Band in Florence a year later, but he did not make the Slovenian team for this year's elite road race.

"I'm not competing in the World Championships simply because I don't think I can beat the best riders in the world on that course," Mohoric said, explaining that the lack of climbs on the course limited his chances against Wout Van Art and others.

"It's different in the Grand Tours because after three weeks everyone is on their hands and knees physically and mentally. But this World Championships is like the Tour de France for the classic riders. I don't want to go to the World Championships to participate. If I were to go, I would go there dreaming of winning."