At the foot of the Granon, Tadej Pogacar offers his most beautiful camera smile. At a time when the race must get carried away and the Tour de France, perhaps, be decided. Does the brazen respect nothing? The Jumbo-Visma putsch a few kilometers earlier in the Col du Galibier? Not even hurt. The heat, the Alps, the altitude, the pincer strategy of the Dutch formation… everything then slipped on the double defending champion.
It’s a bit quick to forget the essence of cycling. This sport of long time, where everything can get carried away sometimes in a few seconds. The certainties of the morning end in the ravine, the invincible god falls from his Olympus and our hearts of simple pagans race like Wednesday, July 13, during this 11e stage of the Grande Boucle.
Save the date. This is the day when the Slovenian lost, at the age of 23, his aura of invincibility on the slopes of this Granon (Hautes-Alpes), a torture chamber more popular since 1986 with its rough bitumen, its rare vegetation, but above all its 11.3 km climb at 9.2%. At the twilight of his career, Bernard Hinault had spent his last hours there in yellow, undressed by Greg LeMond.
The – provisional – winner of the double title holder is just as blond as the American in 1986. Tadej Pogacar’s runner-up in 2021, Jonas Vingegaard not only won the stage and stole the yellow jersey from “Pogi”. The Dane did it with style and a nice margin. In the general classification, he is 2 minutes 16 ahead of a Romain Bardet (DSM) who one wonders if he has discovered a source of second youth in his Auvergne garden in Brioude. Tadej Pogacar (3e) follows 6 seconds behind the French, after giving up almost three minutes to the winner.
“I suddenly didn’t feel good”
Crazy and above all unimaginable this Wednesday morning from Albertville (Savoie). The rocker does not always warn. When Vingegaard fired a gunshot 4.5 km from the top of the Granon, the noise exploded the eardrums, but especially resonated in the legs of the leader. Planted, the yellow jersey wide open on his hairless chest, “Pogi” leaves his Sherpa at UAE, Rafal Majka, to carry the burden in his place and fill the gap.
But when the Pole steps aside, the Slovenian finds himself alone with his current weakness. “I didn’t feel well all of a sudden, in the Granon. When Jonas attacked, I couldn’t respond.”he admits a few minutes later at the microphone of France 2.
In his defense, the young man had so far not had many opportunities to analyze his shortcomings. In the latest issue of Bike Mag, published before the Tour, he nevertheless warned that they would come one day: “One day, I’m sure, I’ll have a shitty year or nightmarish days, that’s part of cycling. »
As explanations for his bankruptcy of the day, he lip serviced to a possible “hypoglycemia”. Beautiful loser, he also highlights the number of Jonas Vingegaard and recognizes the effectiveness of the strategy of the Jumbo-Visma, a little too quickly taken for a Dutch branch of the Spanish team Movistar in terms of baroque racing strategy.
A plan drawn up “several months ago”
To hear the new yellow jersey, this 11e stage had been on the minds of his teammates and sports directors since ” several months “. ” We had a plan at the start, we wanted to make the race very tough, we thought it would work for me and for Primoz [Roglic] », continues the person concerned.
FFP2 mask on the mouth, the other Slovenian let guess the smile of the satisfied teammate. “Everything went even better than planned. We delivered an incredible team performance.”, says Primoz Roglic. To thwart King Pogacar, he agreed to be the sacrificed pawn, he who lost feathers and his status as house leader with his northern roulé-boulé of the 5e stage.
Jonas Vingegaard had only words of love to thank him. “Primoz was great. he was the leader at the start and he did everything in his power to help me. He showed how generous he was. »
The triple winner of the Vuelta thus shook the coconut tree for the first time on the climb to the Col du Télégraphe nearly 70 kilometers from the finish, then put the lid back on the Col du Galibier. The idea was simple, to listen to Sepp Kuss. “We knew that Primoz wanted to attack, but we didn’t know how Pogacar and the others were going to react, observes the American from the Jumbo-Visma. If it doesn’t work once, you have to try again, huh. Once, or several. »
Pogacar promises “a nice duel to follow”
If Jonas Vingegaard and his friends had not decided to launch their 18 Brumaire from so far, Warren Barguil (Arkea-Samsic) presented a good head of winner. In the Galibier, “Wawa” – his nickname – pressed the pedal, with immediate effects, to isolate himself in the breakaway group, which included Wout van Aert and Christophe Laporte.
The latter quickly put his friend Mikaël Cherel up to speed. “From the start, we saw the Jumbo-Visma, who wanted to slip into the holes, with van Aert in particularsays the AG2R-Citroën rider. I slipped a note Christopher [Laporte] and he made me understand the strategy of the team. There, I understood that it was good to be in the breakaway, but that she had little chance of going to the end. »
Our Anglo-Saxon colleagues have an expression for this kind of steps: “vintage internships”. Or old-fashioned cycling, with attacks if possible within 800 meters of the summit. Warren Barguil would have preferred a more conventional scheme and another main course than the Col du Granon. “The valley before finished me. At the foot, I completely stumbled and I knew it was going to be complicated”, concedes the combative of the day, almost on foot when being overtaken by Jonas Vingegaard.
The first French stage victory will wait a bit. A tricolor success at Alpe d’Huez, on a July 14 day, that would make sense. White jersey of the best youngster on the back, Tadej Pogacar promised fireworks, without specifying the date. “I’m going to try to get some time back on Jonas. I think it will be fun for you to follow this duel. »
The Dane is already buying the screenplay. “Tadej is a huge runner, probably the besthe acknowledges. Taking the yellow jersey from him was unthinkable and I know he will do everything to get it back. » Isn’t it Tadej Pogacar who repeated to all the microphones – before crossing this cowrie of Col du Granon – that “the Tour was not over” ?
Romain Bardet in ambush, David Gaudu ends well
On arrival at the top of the Col du Granon, Romain Bardet sat for many minutes on the ground to recover from his effort. But the Frenchman could also savor his stage of the day (3e). Halfway through the lap, the rider of the Dutch team DSM is in 2e place in the general classification, behind Jonas Vingegaard (+ 2 min 16).
“It was a very hard day, we didn’t expect the fight to break out from the Col du Télégraphe for the general classification.he said after catching his breath. My teammates did a great job of bringing me back to the front at that time. I’m very happy with my day, we had to manage the effort, but the legs were responding well. [Jeudi] it will be another big battle. » On the slopes of Alpe-d’Huez, the Auvergnat will be eagerly awaited, just like David Gaudu. In difficulty in the Galibier pass, the Groupama-FDJ climber made an excellent climb of the Granon to finish 5e. It’s 7e in the general classification (+ 3 min 13).
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