We all – apart from his competitors, perhaps – had dreams of Tadej Pogačar making a last-minute announcement that he would be taking to the start of this year’s Vuelta a España. The UAE Team Emirates superstar doing the triple and winning all three Grand Tours in one season would have been a breathtaking, history-making feat, but in the end, it wasn’t to be. Whether it was due to fatigue, team politics, or an understandable general lack of desire to deal with the stress of a three-week race for the third time this season, Pogačar did not stand on the line in Lisbon two weeks ago. This means that we are currently watching a Pog-less Vuelta a España and his absence is certainly being felt. But is it for the better, or for the worse?
The clear difference between the racing dynamic at the Vuelta compared to both the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France is how open everything has become. When a rider of Pogačar stature stands on the start line of a bike race, the expectation is almost always on him to win. This means that the rest of the peloton needs to watch him closely, waiting for the inevitable, explosive attack that will blow up the race and expose everyone’s form. Without the Slovenian rider at the Vuelta, however, more riders have begun to attack, rather than anticipate.
This has been made clear by the number of breakaway wins so far in this race: six out of the 13 stages have gone to opportunistic breakaway riders, rather than the general classification men. In the Tour de France, on the other hand, only five stages in the entire race went to breakaway riders. Pogačar, who eventually won the yellow jersey, took home six stage wins alone. This is partly due to the fact that there are no teams in the Vuelta with the real collective strength to control the time gap when there is a strong break up the road. While UAE Team Emirates brought their A-team to the Tour and looked fully in control throughout that race, the likes of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe and Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale have had to choose where they spend their energy, allowing breakaways up the road and focusing on the GC battle behind.
The breakaway during stage 12 of the Vuelta a España (Image: Zac Williams/SWpix)
In some ways, this has made better viewing for fans watching at home. Some have praised the ‘real ciclismo’ breakaway fights for stage wins and the fact that we are seeing riders strike out and take their chances whenever they can. It’s fair to say that sometimes when Pogačar stood on the start line, the winner of the race already felt like a foregone conclusion. In the current Vuelta a España, correctly predicting the stage winner has been a challenging task and seeing how things play out on the road has been more entertaining than ever.
Stage wins aside, the general classification competition in the current Vuelta a España has also thrown up surprises. Ben O’ Connor’s attack on stage six saw him gain almost five minutes on the outstanding pre-race favourite Primož Roglič, something that few would have expected Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe to allow at the start of this race. Despite Roglič’s repeated attempts to gain time back since that day, O’Connor is still clinging on to red and his Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale squad have been putting on a strong showing as the team with the race leader. It’s still all to play for. If Pogačar was here, it’s unlikely a rider like O’Connor would have been able to take that time in the first place. And even if he had, it's hard to imagine it would have taken long for Pogačar to get it back.
With all that said, however, there’s still plenty of us who miss the presence of the Slovenian rider in this race. While the openness has certainly meant that more teams are getting the chance in the spotlight, not having the best bike rider in the world competing does make it feel like something is missing. Pogačar might be dominant when he wins, but he rarely dominates in a boring way: his attacks are showboating, swashbuckling and evoke a sense of awe in those watching.
Of course, it’s entirely possible to miss seeing Pog’s tufts of hair poke out of his Met helmet while he rides away from the peloton, and enjoy seeing more breakaways get a chance to fight it out for stage wins at the same time. There’s no denying that the Vuelta a España is turning into a very different race than any other Grand Tours we’ve seen this season. If it’s better or not, is simply a matter of opinion.
