Pogacar crashes into Vingegaard's team car before Tour stage start

COURCHEVEL, France :Tour de France overall leader Tadej Pogacar suffered a big scare on Thursday when he bumped into the team car of his chief rival Jonas Vingegaard before the start of the 18th stage, a brutal mountain trek from Vif to the Col de la Loze.

"We were going to the start line and the cars were also going... we were cruising behind the (Visma-Lease a Bike) car, maybe a bit too close and he suddenly... maybe I don't know if he wanted to brake check me, to check my brakes," Slovenian Pogacar said with a smile.

"I was not ready because I did not see the reason why he had to stop urgently so we crashed into the car, I hit my...  but it's okay, I'm okay we're good," he added.

It was not clear who Pogacar was with when he hit the Visma-Lease a Bike car.

Pogacar leads Dane Vingegaard by 4 minutes 15 seconds going into the 18th stage.