Giants Pogacar and Vingegaard
A tour duel that can hardly be more fascinating
By Sebastian Schneider
07/14/2023, 10:25 am
Despite all the scandals, the Tour de France has a loyal following: interest does not wane, after all the races continue to offer spectacle. This is mainly due to the giant duel between Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard on this Tour of France.
Two seconds. Matis Louvel was not allowed to dream for more than a moment at the Tour de France. Although dreaming is exaggerated: After all, it was neither about the yellow jersey nor about the triumphant entrance on the Champs Élysées. None of that. The young Frenchman only wanted to finish third, that would have been a highlight. On the sixth stage and the climb to the Col du Tourmalet, he tried to keep up with the giant duel between Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard. The two have just passed him in the battle for the overall standings – and that’s why the first two places have already been taken.
Those two seconds make it clear why the Pogacar vs Vingegaard duel is so intriguing. Not only do they show that the two drive their own tour. But also what makes the Tour of France and the cycling community so special. Someone reported on Twitter, who spotted those exact two seconds on Louvel’s Strava profile. This is an app that can best be described as the Instagram for athletes. Even the best cyclists in the world use them. Like many recreational athletes, they post their workouts there – only it’s not the run in the park, it’s a tour stage.
Louvel also uses Strava to provide insight into its performance. And it turns out: Shortly after the 103rd kilometer of the Tourmalet stage, there is a short but sharp increase in his wattage, i.e. the power he exerts when pedaling. It’s an attempt to keep up with the giant duel in the Pyrenees. Louvel fell behind after that, Pogacar was ahead against Vingegaard on the first uphill finish of this year’s Tour, but the 26-year-old Dane maintained his lead over the Slovenian, two years his junior, to slip into the yellow jersey. Jai Hindley had achieved that for the German team Bora-Hansgrohe the day before, but the Australian was no longer able to follow the giants at the Tourmalet.
An unlikely duo
In the Pyrenees, Vingegaard attacked Pogacar for the first time and took almost a minute from him on the Col de Marie Blanque, on the stage before the Tourmalet. Even then, some people said that that was the preliminary decision. Even the defeated Slovenian was amazed afterwards. “He was really strong,” he said of his opponent, “what an attack”. But then the pendulum swung: Two successful attacks by Pogacar followed. First at the Tourmalet, later at the legendary Puy de Dôme, the former volcano that the tour climbed for the first time in 35 years. The Slovenian picked up, the Dane couldn’t keep up. The overall leader’s yellow jersey stayed with Vingegaard. Pogacar reduced the gap to a few seconds, each start could now be decisive.
The two go back and forth, it’s unpredictable what happens next. What makes this duel even more exciting: Vingegaard and Pogacar couldn’t be more different. The introverted Dane against the extroverted Slovenian. One, Vingegaard, got into cycling late because he was too small for football. The other, Pogacar, did nothing but ride a bike outside of school when he was a child. Both are among the best that the cycling world currently has to offer. They push each other to achieve their best: There are new records for the climbs on the Tourmalet and the Puy de Dome.
The topic of doping is always there
Their duels are reminiscent of the glory days of the tour, of the gripping duels in which not one outshining star drives away like FC Bayern. There are some parallels to the duel between Michael Rasmussen and Alberto Contador in the Pyrenees when they fought sprint duels on the Col de Peyresourde in 2007. And so these duels also awaken the doubts against which this sport is still fighting after its dark chapter in the 1990s and 2000s. Just like the broom wagon, the topic of doping is always on the agenda. Rasmussen, for example, was suspended during the 2007 Tour, his team took him out of the race as he wore the yellow jersey, and later he made a doping confession. Contador also later served a ban.
Vingegaard addressed this last year. “We’re totally clean. Each of us. I can speak for the whole team. None of us take anything forbidden,” he said after the 109th tour, while also explaining what his Jumbo-Visma team does better than others. “We are so good because of our preparation. We have developed high-altitude training camps. We look at the material, the nutrition, the training. The team is one of the best in these areas. That’s why you have to believe us.”
In fact, the medical care of the teams is close-knit. Every aspect of the three week tour week is monitored and planned through. And yet: Of course, the two exceptional cyclists also have special starting positions. Vingegaard is said to have an excellent ability to regenerate by nature. Jumbo-Visma fuels this with ketones, dietary supplements that ensure more performance and are in the doping gray area. Pogacar, on the other hand, is said to have had overwhelming stamina as a teenager. In addition, UAE already had one cancer researcher in the team, which should help to fully exploit the potential of the cell power plants, the mitochondria.
And this year? Nobody can say who wins. Not even who estimates who more. Jumbo-Visma has so far dominated the stages in the duel for the overall lead. With Wout van Aert, Vingegaard has an exceptional helper who fights for him to the point of self-sacrifice. At the Puy de Dôme he almost fell off his bike, he was so exhausted. And with Sepp Kuss he has another strong helper. On the other hand, not much has been seen of UAE Emirates, the Pogacar team. Can Marc Soler, Adam Yates and Co. not keep up or will they fight back in the Alps? The upcoming trilogy may provide an answer. It starts with the arrival at the Grand Colombier. 17.4 kilometers with an average gradient of 7.1 percent.