Sunday 4th July 2021
Showdown in Tignes
Pogacar and the fear of the persecutors
Primoz Roglic? Outside! Geraint Thomas? Knocked off! In the style of the greatest champions of the Tour de France, Tadej Pogacar is expanding his lead in the Alps. “I didn’t kill the tour,” he says. The legendary Eddy Merckx sees it differently.
In the manner of a great champion in the Alps, Tadej Pogacar has demoralized his rivals and rushes to win the Tour de France again in the yellow jersey. With great dominance, the 22-year-old cycling prodigy secured the sovereign overall lead in two spectacular rain battles and expanded it at the mountain showdown in Tignes. Experts like the legendary Eddy Merckx declare the tour decided.
“I have not killed the race to win the Tour, there is still a long way to go to Paris. Anything can still happen,” said Pogacar, who after finishing sixth at the top of the mountain at 2107 m in the overall ranking with 2: 01 minutes ahead of Ben O’Connor leads. The Australian, who shouldn’t be a candidate for the overall victory, achieved an impressive breakaway win with a lead of more than five minutes in Tignes on Sunday. Already on Saturday an outsider had triumphed in the Belgian Dylan Teuns in Le Grand-Bornand.
“In the end, it was ‘all in’ today, and luckily it worked. If I hadn’t attacked, the others would have attacked,” said Pogacar at the finish line at 2107 m, after shortly before his last remaining competitor in the The manner of the great champions like Merckx or Hinault – the doubters will say: like an Armstrong – had demoralized: “Attack is the best defense.”
Stage winner O’Connor could hardly believe his luck. “This is what you dream of, it fills me with great joy. I love every moment that I’m experiencing and enjoy it,” he said at Eurosport: “I just waited and when I heard them Times are, I thought: runs, maybe I can win after all. It was really a crazy stage. ”
Only natural disaster can prevent landslide victory
Because Pogacar’s big rival Primoz Roglic gave up on the first really tough weekend and the challenger Geraint Thomas fell hopelessly behind, only a medium natural disaster should keep Pogacar from becoming the youngest two-time champion in the history of the Grand Loop. “The tour was absolutely over,” said Merckx, whose legendary dominance was reminiscent of Pogacar’s appearances.
Even before the first day of rest on Monday and the next highlight with the double Ventoux passage on Wednesday, Pogacar wanted to create facts. Of his big opponents, after the first stage in the Alps, only the Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz (Ineos) and the Colombian Rigoberto Uran (EF) were left – Pogacar then took more valuable time from both.
In the final climb, the UAE helpers at the top of the favorites field, tired after the hard work of the past few days, could not significantly shorten the gap to runaway O’Connor, Pogacar virtually lost the yellow jersey to the Australian. When the UAE train fell back and Ineos increased the pace, the gap between the overall leader fell back into the yellow area. About five kilometers from the finish Pogacar then took to the field and left his rivals behind again.
“It’s too much for my body”
He secured the “Maillot jaune” on Saturday with fourth place after an irresistible attack in doomsday weather on the way to Le Grand-Bornand, when the rivals did not necessarily expect it. “But attack is simply the best defense,” said Pogacar: “And maybe it was a little revenge for yesterday.” On Friday almost all teams had left Pogacars UAE Emirates Team to do the work in the main draw on the longest stage of the tour, on Saturday UAE did some hard work for the competition right from the start. Roglic and Thomas, who were marked by crashes, surrendered early to the brutal pace, reaching the finish with the Sprinter-Gruppetto 35 minutes late.
The previous year’s second Roglic, who had a bad fall on the third stage like Thomas, did not compete on Sunday. “It’s too much for my body right now, so I can’t race,” said the Vuelta winner. The 35-year-old Thomas stayed in the race at least as a Carapaz helper – a very strong one on Sunday – but said: “It’s tough on the head.”
And the Germans? Played no role at all on the heaviest daily pieces to date. Berlin’s Simon Geschke was the best on Saturday in 48th place, more than 25 minutes behind, and said: “I was pretty much at the limit. I’m slowly getting excited about the day off.” Emanuel Buchmann limited himself to helping Bora captain Wilco Kelderman, who still has the top five in view.
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