“I’m gone. I’m dead”. “I go dead. I stay”. That raw, that stark. The words that no one thought to hear came out of the mouth of Tadej Pogacar. Thus, with these two sentences, the Slovenian announced to his directors and his car that he was in crisis, that he could not take it anymore, that he was abdicating, that he was signing the capitulation in the battle for the Tour, a fight that has kept fans on edge. , equalized until Vingegaard blew up his opponent’s morale in the Combloux time trial.
Pogacar cannot, says goodbye, pronounces his resignation. He makes it public. His pedaling has nothing to do with the explosive dances of his accelerations. It’s melted. He hurts his soul. He stays and gives way to the yellow jersey, which goes by carriage to Paris. The Slovenian, always smiling, is grieving. With his physique touched, after his blow at the beginning of the stage, he also weighs on his head, after the blow from the day before.
What bad starts, bad finishes. He verified it in his own flesh Tadej Pogacar, sunk and defeated in the Col de la Loze. In the morning, he makes the sharpener and goes to the ground. He hits his left hip and knee. bad omen. Then he will pay by going down. Not with 3 kilometers to go, like last year at the Granon, when he forgot to eat. But 8 from the top of the Col de la Loze, 15 from the finish line.
“When I brought him water, he already told me that it was not going well,” reveals Marc Soler on arrival. After the town of Meribel, before the hardest part of the ascent begins, the total crisis arrives. The image of Pogacar with the jersey open, with the headset removed, struggling not to lose the wheel of his own gregarious, is definitive. He is so nailed that several times the man from Vilanova has to wait for him.
The Jumbos smell the blood and do not hesitate to shoot. Kuss opens gas. He still has Benoot and Kelderman ahead. Vingegaard will not forgive.
Delighted to have to be that bad guy who bans the show, the one who puts logic -after putting fantasy in the time trial- the Dane and the Jumbo start from Saint Gervais, at the foot of Mont-Blanc, with a clear idea, with the sole purpose of defending himself. They’re prepared in case that suicide attack comes. For a reason when Majka and Marc Soler, two of the trusted men of the UAE boss, get involved in the escape, Benoot and Kelderman leave with them. Draw, two to two. For what it could happen. They don’t want to be surprised.
However, the final offensive is a chimera and never comes. On the contrary. The crisis appears, the collapse, in the eternal port, 28 kilometers. And Marc Soler has to pull his leader but to help him. “Marc, you always with Tadej”, they tell him through the earpiece. And yes, Majka must intervene but not for what was thought but to direct Adam Yates. “Adam, you fight for the podium”, they order the Briton, third, locked in his duel with Carlos Rodríguez, who, this time, cannot follow the Yates twin. A minute escapes him and perhaps the podium also escapes him.
But they all end up being let down by a grown Vingegaard, who has no mercy and wants everything. The Dane leaves only to win by crush. A car blocked in the middle of the road, because of a motorcycle with the flu, not even that stops him. Only a great climber like Felix Gall leaves him without a stage victory.
While the Austrian is about to cross the finish line first, Pogacar is crowning the Col de la Loze. Heartbroken, dejected, empty, he is left for almost six minutes with the leader, his rival, from whom he never parted and is now completely unattainable for him. Seeing is believing. “He has us badly used but everyone can fail. We are human ”, apologizes Marc Soler. When they finally reach the Courchevel altiport, the Catalan comforts his boss, upset. As if that were not enough, Benoot, Vingegaard’s partner, enters in front of them, celebrating. The two faces of the Tour.
