There is news on the Tour: there is a Tour, there is a lot of Tour left. Long live the Tour. A superlative Jumbo and an ambitious and extra-motivated Vingegaard met a majestic Tadej Pogacar on the queen stage of the Pyrenees. Some played to kill the race in the sixth stage. The other revived when they wanted to bury him. The double winner of the Tour showed his character, his grit and his pride to stage a reaction of a true champion above Cauterets, on the Plateau de Cambasque, where he finally, after two years, hurt the Dane, who had always responded to all his attacks.
But neither Vingegaard is immaculate nor Pogacar had said his last word. The Dane who sometimes seems to be riding a carriage met an unknown head of the UAE, more cerebral than ever, intelligent and clinical. He didn’t show off. He didn’t show off. Rather, he saved his efforts. He saved his strength for the big blow from him. One shot, the good one. If someone expected a new defeat from Pogacar, he was wrong. Champions accept losses and forget them based on victories. That’s what the wounded Slovenian did. The best defense with him is always a good offense. Far from being intimidated by the power of the Jumbo, he took revenge.
Twice Vingegaard attacked, both times his rival responded, resurrected. A demarrage was enough for Pogacar and the defending champion folded. 2.8 km from the finish line, the Tour reopened, wide open. The Slovene, dethroned, promised battle until Paris. At Cauterets he kept his word. “It has not been a rematch. He wanted to win the stage and recover time but there will be a fight until the end, ”predicts the reborn.
Lucky the fans who admire them. Poor the other cyclists who suffer from them. Macron applauded Pogacar, the winner, on the podium, there are already ten stages in the best race. The visiting President of the French Republic also applauded Vingegaard, who received the yellow jersey as the new leader. Twenty-four seconds the Slovenian took him out. The Danish has an advantage of 25s. While Carlos Rodríguez, barely 22 years old, is already fifth overall, after reaching the level of Hindley and Simon Yates, pulling them, the freshest and most complete of the rest.
A few kilometers before nothing foreshadowed such an outcome. Not at all. What’s more, in the Jumbo they rub their hands. Everything is going according to plan. “Very good work. You have put Pogacar to the limit ”, Grischa Niermann, sports director, whispers to Vingegaard. He tells her because of the earpiece. But everyone listens to it. One of the great novelties of this Tour is that the teams’ radios can be broadcast on the air, just like in Formula 1. Some thought it was an exaggeration, that it was an unnecessary addition to cycling. But seeing the Jumbo-Visma, the mechanical banana, in action, it is understood that these communications are made public. Their race strategy is laboratory, it seems that they even control the weather, like the F1 teams, and they only need to change the wheels of the Cervélo to the millimeter as in the pit stops.
They have turned the Tour into their circuit. It doesn’t matter if you climb the Aspin, the Tourmalet and Cauterets. The Pyrenees are a board, smooth, well waxed. They imagine and the cars carry out the tactic as planned on the bus. They don’t look at the percentages of the ramps. The rest of the squad almost doesn’t matter. The Jumbo pieces move with supreme synchronization. They want to sentence the Tour in the first week.
The flag is lowered, the real start of the race is given and Wout van Aert launches the attack at kilometer zero. It is the beginning of a performance by a tuned orchestra. The Belgian opens the way and those who go with him, as long as they can, know that they are following the good wheel. Van Aert does the entire stage at the head of the race, without looking at who is going with him. First with the escapees. Later, when he crowns the Tourmalet, with Vingegaard, who he is waiting for, and Pogacar, who accompanies him.
Pogacar in the Tourmalet knows what he is up against. Surprised at the Marie Blanque, he this time sees it coming. He doesn’t have to be a scientist. Van Baarle tense, Kelderman pushes even more until leaving the group at five, three of them from the Jumbo. Only Pogacar and the leader, Hindley, hold on. And when Kuss, the detonator, the one who lights the fuse with his rhythm, comes into action, the yellow jersey is cut and he prefers to seek refuge next to those who can only aspire to fight for third place. The Australian is resigned, he understands that he will lose the lead, that he is not yet there to compete with the two musketeers.
With 2 km to go from the top of the colossus, as it would be written, Vingegaard puts Pogacar to the test. The Slovenian, he resists, sticks to the Dane. The action is repeated in Cauterets. Van Aert prepares the ground and his boss attacks. But Pogacar does not bend. What’s more, he responds and takes action. And he leaves Vingegaard’s tactics on paper. Because, in the end, the only thing that the Jumbo cannot control on this Tour is Pogacar’s pride as a champion.
