Tour de France: Tigers and crocodiles - curious radio message from Pogacar team
"OK guys, plan C. We'll jump the tiger. If the crocodiles have to swim, you jump," radioed one of the sports managers. What the instruction meant remained unclear at first. Mikkel Bjerg, who rides for Tadej Pogacar's team, provided clarification at the finish.
Tour de France 2023: Mikkel Bjerg explains curious radio message
"We were asked by the A.S.O. why we never talk about tactics on the radio. That's why we agreed in the morning to say some crazy things on the radio," explained the Dane on Eurosport. Why crocodiles and tigers of all things? "We had a few suggestions. Crocodiles, lions... These are code words that we know what they mean."
Radio messages from the teams will be made public for the first time during the Tour de France 2023 race broadcast. However, the radio messages will not be live, but will be recorded again. In return, each team will receive compensation of 5000 euros. Even before the Tour de France 2023, there was much discussion about this topic. Some team bosses thought the amount was far too low. However, the radio of five teams cannot be heard: Alpecin-Deceuninck, Cofidis, Groupama-FDJ, Movistar and Team Jayco-AlUla.
