Third top finish of the Tour and third attack by Tadej Pogacar. A man of manners, the Slovenian did not miss the opportunity to take another swipe at rival Jonas Vingegaard. The leader always gives in. He cannot contain the explosiveness of the aspiring and two-time champion no matter how attentive he is. It escapes him. Little, but it is impossible to keep him at bay. The Dane resists, yes, he keeps the yellow, too, but he has less and less advantage left. Now it’s just 9 seconds. It is agony, a Chinese drop that hammers him, a sledgehammer that tortures him. Pogacar already has it within reach.
After the two comes the three for Pogacar. He did it in Cautarés, on the Puy-de-Dôme volcano and repeated it on the Grand Colombier. The head of the UAE attacks – closer and closer to the goal, everything must be said – and always takes advantage of the accelerations, he accumulates, like an ant. Of course, he was never able to take more than 30 seconds off Vingegaard, who goes with the hook but never has a bad day.
What until winter, at the Paris-Nice Loge des Gardes, was an unheard of event, has become an everyday thing. One day yes and the other too. Pogacar, unable in 2022, finds the vulnerability of the Jumbo cyclist on a daily basis, who last year was untouchable. Despite Vingegaard’s difficulties, equality remains the dominant note between the top two. No one pokes their nose into their duel.
It was 450 meters at the most. Everything sped up there. Full, they say in English, the almost dominant language of cycling today. The heart about to leave the chest. Feeling of suffocation Pinwheel on the legs.
Before, there are no attacks. The costumes of Marge Simpson, the Minions, Mario Bros, dinosaurs and the flamingo floats scattered all over the climb, filled with people, are empty because they don’t see Pogacar dancing. The only one who slows down is Adam Yates, and they all enter the wheel. His boss waits in the closed area. A special category port of 18 kilometers reduced to a long sprint. He wants to win something and the bonus of the third. Vingegaard wants to follow him, but he disengages again.
These are small victories for one. They are great resistances for the other. He approaches it, but he does not take the Bastille, he does not attack the leadership. You look, but you don’t touch, he says. Stay tuned when the Alps are just getting started.
However, Pogacar doesn’t have the fun he wanted either. He wanted the stage and it escaped him. On departure, he made the UAE take responsibility. Trentin and Bjerg devoured kilometers in front of the pilot to stabilize the breakaway distance while Jumbo, the leader’s team, did not pull a single metre. In the only port it is Marc Soler who sets a good pace. He is then replaced by Grossschartner and Majka. But everyone in the Emirates team has to take their hats off to Kwiatkowski, in full, who survived the escape, this time without the Spanish and almost without the French on July 14.
The Pole, Carlos Rodríguez’s teammate, began the ascent of the Grand Colombier with almost four minutes left and one to go to win at the summit, where the Grenadian accused Pogacar’s final attack and watched the third position on the podium. Pello Bilbao suffers more and falls from the top 5.
