Never before when Vingegaard and Pogacar had occupied the first two positions in the Tour de France classification (he has passed in 22 stages in the last three years) had the difference between the two cyclists been so small: barely 17 seconds separate them. A handful of seconds that announce the sound of sabers ahead of the final fireworks of the second week, where Friday (Grand Colombier), Saturday (the Joux Plane ending in Morzine) and Sunday (Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc) link three mountain stages.
“What is coming suits me more than what has already happened”, says the Dane from Jumbo, who acknowledges that “before starting the Tour it was not in our plans to have the yellow jersey after the first week”. It is the way they have in the Dutch team to explain that the race is even turning out better than expected.
With the four days that he has been leading the general, Vingegaard has 15 days in yellow, equaling Pedro Delgado, for example. Last year, the Dane no longer let go of the lead when he took it. “Pogacar recovered 8 seconds, which is not a very important income”, he tries to minimize his uncovered vulnerability. And he seeks to appear confident: “I think the next stages are going better for me. I have that luck. I’m looking forward to the Alps”, he puffs out his chest for being first and because he has the most powerful team. In 2022 the Jumbo tactic in the Alps was key.
Neither Jumbo nor UAE have had casualties yet. In the environment of the whole of the Emirates they are convinced that the days play in favor of Pogacar. The Slovenian’s preparation broke down when he fell in Liège (April 23) and had to undergo surgery for surgery on his left wrist. So they consider that he has arrived short of form and that, little by little, he will reach his zenith.
“It was a positive day,” said Pogacar satisfied after cutting 8 seconds. The contender attributed the few differences to the fact that the stage had not been too hard beforehand, he was comfortable in the peloton and all the favorites arrived at the foot of the Puy de Dôme whole. Still he tasted it. “I had to try something. He wanted to recover some time, ”he revealed about his impromptu attack. “I have to put maximum pressure on him,” he says, promising a fight against Vingegaard, aware that the bonuses can favor him since he is faster (Pogacar has already caught 26s).
Although history is on the side of the Dane. The Puy de Dôme is wise, it makes itself heard and whispers to Vingegaard. The volcano is a great thermometer of what will happen, it almost acts as an oracle, a kind of Ohio in the presidential elections in the United States. Usually whoever comes out of its ramps in yellow ends up winning the Tour. This has been the case on ten of the 13 occasions in which the race has climbed the port. In fact, for Coppi (1952), Bahamontes (1959) and Ocaña (1973) winning at the top – the two Spaniards, in time trials – was a prelude to their triumph on the Champs-Élysées podium.
The leader of the Jumbo can also cling to that, although it is true that the Puy de Dôme, due to its geographical location, has often been climbed in the third week, near Paris. However, in this edition, 35 years after his last appearance, he was crowned on stage 9.
For the interests of Pogacar, there are three precedents that favor him, where the Puy de Dôme was wrong. One corresponds to the famous punch in the liver to Merckx in full ascent, in 1975. The Belgian champion, who aspired to sixth, managed to retain the lead at the finish line, but lost it the next day to finish on the shoulders of Thévenet, who no longer she took off the yellow garment. Neither did Bruyère manage to get to Paris in yellow in 1978 and Pascal Simon in 1983. The former succumbed at the end (stage 20) to Hinault, who won the first of his five Tours. For his part, Simon, who dropped out, gave in to Laurent Fignon. Statistics can be read in different ways. The road and the mountains of the Alps, on the other hand, do not lie in period duels.
