Tour de France dominator Tadej Pogačar has revealed he is battling a mild seasonal ailment, though he assures that it is "nothing to worry about" and that he is already overcoming a simple cold.

The Slovenian, who has already won four of the 15 stages and leads the overall standings by 4:13 over Jonas Vingegaard, has shown no signs of weakness so far. Indeed, on Saturday's stage finishing in Superbagnères, he managed to gain another six seconds on his Danish rival in the finale.

"I'm recovering, thanks for the concern," Pogačar joked at the press conference. "Actually, half the group has a sore throat and a cough. I'm already nearing the end of this."

The UAE leader suggested that the widespread use of ice to cool off during the hottest days may have contributed to the spread of these ailments within the peloton. The extra commitments on the podium and in the press also didn't help:

We eat a lot of ice and put it everywhere, I don't think it's good for our throats. And then all the air conditioning, the extra work on the podium and afterward... it resulted in a bit of a runny nose and a few coughs.

But with his symptoms resolving and given his recent performances, Pogačar downplayed the issue: "It's nothing major, I'm not really ill, it's just a nuisance. It won't affect my performance."