After he and his team had controlled the Tour de France and the race lead since taking yellow from Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) on Stage 9, it looked like Roglič would be the one to stand atop the podium in Paris.
A dramatic time trial dashed his dreams of the overall Tour de France win, as Pogačar produced a ride for the ages, time-trialling with the best on the flat, then flying up the Planche des Belles Filles to claim the stage win and the yellow jersey, which the younger Slovenian now holds by 59 seconds.
Roglič was fifth on the stage, a minute and 56 seconds behind Pogačar, a below-par performance from the time trial specialist who was the favourite for the stage win prior to the start.
Afterwards, Roglič was lost for reasons as to why he beaten so comprehensively by the 21-year-old, who - barring misadventure - will win the 2020 Tour de France in Paris.
"Yeah, I did not have the best day," said Roglič. "Tadej was a lot, a lot better than me. He definitely deserved his win. For me, I gave everything I had. I can say that I’m disappointed about the result, but on the other hand I can be proud of that second place."
"I’m disappointed. I will cry, I did already. It’s not really what I wanted. I’m really emotional about it, but on the other hand it was how it was. I would want it to be a little different, but I can not change it. I just need to go on.”
Roglič looked out of sorts at times during the stage, pulling up abruptly for his bike change on the early slopes of the Planche des Belles Filles, pedalling a small gear at times on the climb and knocking his aero helmet off its normal angle. It spoke to the difficulty of the stage and the anxiety of hearing that Pogačar was hunting down his top place on the overall standings.
"Of course, it’s better when you hear intermediate times that you’re in front or going away," said Roglič. "I was just losing and losing. Considering that, I was hoping that he would have some hard moments. I was just pushing myself to the limit for the whole parcours. At the end I was really far from it."
Roglič was most upset for his Jumbo-Visma teammates, who had controlled the race impeccably up until the 'race of truth', when it was man-on-man against Pogačar.
"I feel sorry for all of the guys and everyone," said Roglič. "I didn’t really do for purpose this today. I was fighting to do my best everyday together with them. I’m really proud of them and the whole performance they’ve showed in the last three weeks."
Roglič paid tribute to the new race leader, but brushed aside questions of going up against his younger compatriot in the future, saying he needed time to clear his head.
"Tadej is obviously a super talented guy," said Roglič. "That we know, he already showed me with past results. He just continues riding like this. I think he’s the one for quite some years to come.
"Yeah, for the moment I don’t have a clear plan and nothing in my head. I’m disappointed, more about the result. With my performance, I gave everything I had today."
Don't miss out on the Porte podium party and Caleb Ewan contesting the sprint victory on the Champs-Élysées, the final stage of the 2020 Tour de France. Watch on SBS HD and SBS On Demand from 11:30pm AEST and the SBS ŠKODA Tour Tracker from 11:35pm AEST.
