The body is memory, thinks Pogacar, who hopes that memories move his legs and the bicycle when his muscles pass through the roads they know well and which were where, three years ago, he won his first stage in his first Tour, in Laruns, after climbing Marie Blanque, with Roglic in front. But now the duel is different. Cycling is a surprise, defends Vingegaard, who has ceased to be predictable to be devastating, who abandons the reactive version of him to deal a blow to his rival in a theoretical climb and the end of the stage that benefited Pogacar.
The Dane won the 2022 Tour in the Granon and in Hautacam, long ascents, after stages of great wear. But this time he did not want to wait for the main days, but played to be great from the beginning. The fireworks in the Basque Country did not reflect reality. Vingegaard put things in his place in the first stage of the Pyrenees. He was seen full of energy while the Slovenian lacks a turbo.
The defending champion surprised by his ambition by attacking first. With 1,000 to go to the top of Marie Blanque, he demarcated after the work of his partner Kuss. He was amazed at the ease with which he left. Pogacar did nothing to follow the wheel, powerless to reach the explosiveness of the Jumbo, pure dynamite. And he impressed by the tremendous bite that he took from the Slovenian: a minute and a few seconds.
Vingegaard is already second overall, although Ciccone, Gall and Buchmann, despite not collaborating at any time, deprived him of the bonuses at the finish line, after Jai Hindley. The Australian from Bora was the winner of the stage and is the new yellow jersey, aspiring to almost everything in his debut, because we must not forget that he already has a Giro in his palmares. “I have no words. I have won on the Tour. They were yelling at me on the radio from the car not to stop, not to enjoy, to maximize the advantage, ”he admitted.
Behind, Pogacar was unable to keep up with his rival and even had to wait for the Yates and Carlos Rodríguez group to minimize the loss. The head of the UAE returns to the couch of doubts, there Vingegaard has sent him: to the thinking corner. The doll, the little filming, the equipment… The applicant has a lot to think about. “Nothing can be done in these cases. What an attack! I tried to hold on as much as possible but I was going too fast. It’s a hard blow”, conceded the Slovenian, who looks to the future. “Training was a bit delayed this year. Hopefully in the last week my legs will be better than Jonas’s.”
It is the consolation that remains for those who suffer on the first day in the mountains, in their terrain, like Landa, who still lost 1m20s more. “The advantage is super nice,” Vingegaard acknowledged. “On the last climb I felt very good and I told Kuss to shoot,” he explained about his attack, without wanting to delve into Pogacar’s performance, to which memory betrayed him. “I look at myself. I know that Tadej is one of those who does not give up and is going to fight until Paris”.
