It is easy to utter the old adage, “things always come in threes”, used at every opportunity and in every field, almost automatically, as if this repeated saying was self-evident. It is not something that would sit well with the thirteen two times winners of the Tour who never managed to make it a hat-trick, from Ottavio Bottecchia to Laurent Fignon (who almost did, but for eight fateful seconds!!), not forgetting Gino Bartali, Fausto Coppi or Bernard Thévenet.
Among the nine riders who achieved triple success, only one in the history of the Tour de France managed to accomplish this feat before celebrating his 26th birthday and his initials are “TP”, as in “The Pioneer”… can you guess who it is?
“Total Perfection” can also be used to sum up how Tadej Pogacar tackled the three weeks of racing that enabled him to write his name for a third time on the Tour de France’s roll of honour, after having endured, with a smile but not without frustration, the domination of Jonas Vingegaard in the previous two editions. However, the challenge for “The Pog” was not without uncertainties at the race start in Florence, five weeks after his triumph on the Giro, especially when faced with a level of competition that was much different from anything he had experienced before.
Following a change of team, his elder and countryman Primoz Roglic, surfing on the wave of his recent win on the Critérium du Dauphiné, was once again a serious rival, while Remco Evenepoel promised to be an adversary on which he would have to keep a very watchful eye. As for Vingegaard, “he wouldn’t be taking starter’s orders if he wasn’t ready,” said the Slovenian UAE Emirates team leader in the majestic setting of the Palazzo Vecchio.
“Tutti Piano” was more or less the rhythm at which the maestro played in Italy, for the beginning of his recital. However, on crossing the border for the climb up the Galibier, Pogačar began to mark his territory in earnest. Already at this point in the race, his UAE Emirates “dream team” was putting the hammer down to methodically sap the competition, in preparation for their leader’s attacks, which he only triggered 800 metres away from the summit. By the time the race had reached Valloire, the Yellow Jersey had distanced Evenepoel by 45’’ and Vingegaard by 50’’, for a beginning to the race that immediately looked “Truly Promising”.
One week on the Tour without a victory is a very long time for Tadej Pogacar when on top form. This year, this drought – if it can even be called that – nonetheless involved two second places, the first behind world time-trial champion Evenepoel on the Belgian’s favourite exercise in Burgundy, bringing him to within 33 seconds of the Slovenian, and the second for the first time in a sprint with his main rival from Denmark, on completion of a mountainous stage that finished with a duel at Le Lioran.
“That’s a Pity” is what the man from Komenda probably sighed, because it is not his style to panic. More importantly, the Yellow Jersey wearer was well aware that his time would come and that he would be able to strike a bigger blow when the weekend arrived, with battle to be done at Pla d’Adet, where he previously tasted victory, and the Plateau de Beille.
As is often the case, the “Tsar of the Pyrenées” hit a bullseye, winning twice to leave the mountain range and enjoy the rest day with a lead of more than three minutes over Vingegaard and more than five minutes over Evenepoel, after Roglic returned home prematurely. With a total of seven victories in the Pyrenees, Pogacar has quite simply won more than half of the mountain stages that have been held there on the Tour since 2020!
He seemed well set to achieve his main objective, but the temptation of adding a prestigious stage to his collection, including a climb to an altitude of 2,802 metres over the Cime de la Bonette, was too much for Pogačar to ignore. His power play on the ascent to Isola 2000 at a distance of 9.5 km from the mountain resort is not something either Vingegaard or all the survivors of the breakaway trying to believe in their chances of victory are likely to forget soon, as he left his two nearest GC pursuers trailing further in his wake.
The Visma-Lease a Bike team tried to fight back on the Col de la Couillole pass but it was a bad move because in the end the merely exposed their leader to a new assault by “The Pog”, who almost went for the win in spite of himself to collect his fifth stage victory of the race.
Finally, the prospect of winning a stage starting in the city which he calls home, with explosive power in his legs partially honed by riding every which way up and down the Col d’Eze pass during training, was a final challenge that seemed to be commensurate with the temperament and energy still possessed by the Yellow Jersey wearer on the time-trial between Monaco and Nice.
His sixth victory was both the seal on the race and the symbol of his domination over the Tour in 2024. For the rest of the pack, it would now seem that he is just “Too Powerful”. – www.letour.fr
