The Tour, more than three weeks in a bubble, in which you go from the team bus to the restaurant truck, to the hotel room, to the roller, to the bus that takes you to the start, to the pilot, to the finish line and back to the bus and start again, it’s a state of mind. Everything around you is more intense, magnified, like in a reality show. Cyclists, strangers to the family, move in a closed environment. And everything that is said in the caravan influences them. The victories of Bilbao, Ion Izagirre and Carlos Rodríguez, encourage the rest of the Spaniards. And, like a spring, Aranburu, Juanpe López, Fraile, Marc Soler, and even Mikel Landa join the escape with the illusion of a fourth victory. If they could, why not me? They see themselves as capable, they believe it, they encourage each other and above all Soler, the one from Vilanova, stays close.
But all of them, even the powerful and pushy Van Aert, will eventually be beaten by another veteran who shines in the 30-something round. Another group, that of those who find late glory, which has caught the good wave and keeps adding members. The 36-year-old Dutchman Poels, like Woods, Bilbao, Ion or Kwiatkowski before him, wins the stage, the most resistant of the permitted escape, even if it was because a spectator threw Van Hooydonck and Kuss.
There are only two that escape probabilities and statistics. Impossible to get right if one goes more or the other goes less. Predictions cannot be made in the duel of wizards and genies. Both Vingegaard and Pogacar hide the best tricks. It seems that they both reserve a letter, but want to hide it for the big function, without warning when it will be.
But something has changed in a Tour that is anything but mathematical, even though it is played for seconds, numb as the first two are to break the record of LeMond and Fignon. Yellow is now in 9 seconds. In 1989 the American beat the French in Paris by 8. There is a new trend in the Alps. Neither in Morzine nor in Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc has the Slovenian been able to attack the lead despite having it within reach from the Grand Colombier. Vingegaard, who does not trust even the shadow of his rival, has not lost anything, not even the wheel, in the two Alpine stages, and continues in yellow.
It was a null fight while the bosses study. They float, but they don’t sting. The defending champion and the aspirant tied with a good dose of drama. They go into the break with a technical draw. Separated by 10 seconds, they are scheduled for tomorrow’s time trial, in which they will not be able to shield each other in the teams.
For the first time in a high finish, Pogacar did not get juice from his explosive starts. Always, in Cautarés, the Puy-de-Dôme and the Grand Colombier, he had gains, more or less, of course. In the fourth and last finish in a port of the Tour, he was without a prize.
A man of manners, who attacks because he needs to and because his destiny is to put on a show, he started 900 meters from the finish line after his UAE teammates stole from him – a clear offense – the head of the group of favorites at the Jumbo. But Vingegaard welded himself to his wheel, he did not give him even half a meter. He denied him even the moral victory of seeing him suffer. From vulnerability, it has passed to solidity. He answered the first and without hesitation. “I saw him so strong that I thought it was better not to spend any more energy”, says Pogacar, manager of feelings after he got nervous on Saturday because a motorcycle blocked the second offensive at the Joux Plane.
Very confident defensively, it is difficult for the Dane to go on the attack. Not even when Pogacar allowed Adam Yates to get ahead and they were close to each other did he dare try a timid start. “I never thought about it. My idea was to always stay with him”, he admits. He only wanted to overtake him in the final stretch and Pogacar took it personally. It was the third effort in a row and they opted to draw. What was not conservative was Carlos Rodríguez, who, sensing Hindley’s difficulties, went ahead. The Grenadier has legs and head, strength and reading of the race. And he knew how to see the moment to extend the advantage with the Australian from Bora. He gained more than a minute to push him away. Instead, the Andalusian, after the epic victory in Morzine, saw Adam Yates approaching, who had a free pass from Pogacar to aspire to the individual benefit of the third wicket. Carlos, nothing like Carlitos, defended himself like a lion. And what’s left Vingegaard and Pogacar know it. And Rodríguez knows it, clinging to the podium like a veteran, at 22 years old.
