Tour de France: Pogacar makes another stab in the Pyrenees. "I thought about Samuele Previtera in the final kilometers."
Well, if we still had any doubts, we no longer have them. In this Tour, too, the master is Tadej Pogacar, 26, the Martian of modern cycling who is eclipsing even the legendary Eddy Merckx.
After this first Pyrenean stage, which concluded in Hautacam with yet another triumph for the Slovenian, perhaps the curtain could be drawn and the entire peloton sent home a week early. True, there's still a time trial to go, another long Pyrenean stage, the fearsome Mont Ventoux, and two important Alpine stages to go, but the gap that emerged in this first real examination of the field is too clear, almost a verdict that leaves no room for appeal, neither for Vingegaard, now second in the standings, more than three and a half minutes behind, nor for Evenepoel, third, 4:45 behind.
What should we call it? A blow? A thrashing? A feat that takes away every argument and every last hope from the opponents? Now, of course, the latter can begin to think in terms of second and third place, legitimate calculations that the defeated will have to make to carve out a spot on the podium. What matters, however, is that after this 12th stage, the game is over. There will be other chapters to unfold, true, but the mystery is already revealed; the end of the Tour is drawing nearer.
A little voice suggests caution. It suggests that anything can happen in cycling: a bad day or a trivial accident. It can happen, of course, just as it can happen that it snows in the Alps in July, but if we want to be realistic, Tadej Pogacar can already see the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs-Élysées, while his opponents, including Vingegaard, are still on the Hautacam climb, the final summit of this stage where the World Champion, about 12 km from the finish, took off with a skid that shocked everyone, or at least the few who had managed to keep up with the frenetic pace of UAE Emirates, Tadej's team.
A dirty but invaluable job, one that drained the rivals, roasting them in the slow heat of the Pyrenean heat. If we want to know who was the decisive support, the one who broke the bank before Pogacar's acceleration, we must remember the splendid move by Jhonatan Narvaez, the Ecuadorian rider whose whiplash sapped the remaining energy of the competition.
Vingegaard, aware that he could not catch Tadej, did not even react, preferring to reach the finish line in economy mode, accumulating more than two minutes of delay from the new yellow jersey, which was taken over by Irishman Ben Healy, who reached the finish more than 13 minutes behind Pogacar.
If Vingegaard had reacted to Tadej's attack, he might have sunk. So let's say he saved what he could. Three minutes and thirty-one seconds is a huge gap, considering there are still nine stages to go before reaching Paris (Sunday, July 27).
But what's most striking is the disproportionate number of riders on the field. Pogacar, once again in the yellow jersey and with his third Tour win, currently has no rivals who can challenge him. Even Vingegaard, who beat him at Hautacam in 2022, is clearly struggling. He doesn't touch the ball, just plays defense.
The Dane is struggling both in the time trial and, as we've seen, especially on the climbs. This Friday, July 13th, a time trial (10.9 km from Loudienvielle to Peyragudes) is scheduled, which could prove another debacle for the Dane.
Belgian Evenepoel might be able to do better, having not collapsed here at Hautacam, but we're still at the same point: Pogacar is the strongest. There's no trick, no deception. And this will almost certainly be the fourth Tour of his career. His name isn't in the book yet, but the pen is ready; he's the star.
“I knew this was a beautiful climb,” said Pogacar. “In 2022, I didn't fare well; Vingegaard won, and his team was stronger. But then I didn't think about it anymore. I just felt like rewriting that story from three years ago, but in reverse. I'm really happy; everything went well. I even recovered from Wednesday's crash. I only felt a slight pain in my hip. The team was amazing; they allowed me to break away in the finale.”
There's also time to reflect on Samuele Previtera, the 19-year-old rider who died in a fall at the Giro della Valle D'Aosta. "In this moment of happiness, I want to think of Samuele and his family: I thought of them in the last few kilometers. I thought of him and of how tough and terrible this sport is and how much pain it can cause."
Emotional, far from banal, words that do honor to a champion who knows how to make himself heard even when he gets off his bike.
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