'It was a crazy situation' – knee injury that nearly ended Tadej Pogačar's Tour de France last year apparently caused by crash with Visma-Lease a Bike car

The knee injury that almost saw Tadej Pogačar retire from last year's Tour de France was triggered by a shunt with a Visma-Lease a Bike team car, the Slovenian's agent has said.

The knee injury incurred by UAE Team Emirates-XRG's Pogačar in the final stages of the last year's race – which he went on to win – has been well documented. But the fact it was caused by a collision with the team car of his main rival Jonas Vingegaard had not been revealed before now. Speaking on the Domestique Hotseat podcast, Alex Carera described how the "crazy" incident took place just ahead of stage 18 to Courchevel.

“When he goes against the car of Visma, he’s really unlucky because it’s a crazy situation,” Carera said. “After that of course he’s worried because he doesn’t feel well.”

Beyond getting Pogačar better, the priority became ensuring that other teams did not get wind of his weakness. “It was my job to protect him so this information didn’t go out,” Carera said. “If other teams knew he had an injury, the tactics could change and become more aggressive.”

There was a point, says Carera, when it was not certain that Pogačar would be able to continue. It would appear he remained in the race by a whisker.

In the daily press conference following the Courchevel stage, Pogačar admitted that he could not wait for the race to finish. "I ask myself why I'm still here," he said. "It's so long these three weeks. You count the kilometres to Paris and yes, I can't wait for it to be over so I can do some other nice stuff in my life as well."

These most recent revelations add new context to those comments, which were unusually gloomy for the usually cheerful character.

The story does not end there though. Pogačar's team-mate Tim Wellens puts a different spin on the issue, insisting that the knee problem flared up the day before on a wet stage 17 to Valence.

“It was so bad that he even went down to the race doctor," Wellens said in L'Equipe in November. "After that stage, he went to the hospital for a number of tests. That’s where they discovered the inflammation, but nobody knew! I was certain the news was going to leak out. Withdrawing was seriously considered. It was therefore a huge relief that Tadej didn’t give up in the mountains. After the Tour de France, we were worried about his physical condition.”

Perhaps one incident exacerbated the other, but what seems to be beyond any doubt is that Pogačar was suffering with a problematic knee injury in the final stages of last year's Tour.

If his rivals had known, we may have seen a different finale, but the fact that the Slovenian and his team managed to keep it a secret is indicative of his own professionalism and that of the tight knit group around him.