It’s the hope that kills you. For all the glimmers of optimism that Jonas Vingegaard’s punchy performances in the Massif Central gave us, for all the question marks that arose after Tadej Pogačar’s crash on stage 11, for all the dreams of a close-fought battle for yellow, the Tour de France looks to be over before it has even truly begun. We have nine days of bike racing left, and the world champion, after destroying the competition in one, destructive attack on Hautacam, already leads with a seismic three-and-a-half minutes on the general classification. We thought it might happen but we wished – in the name of entertaining cycling – that it wouldn’t.
No matter what Visma-Lease a Bike has thrown at the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider over the last week, he unquestionably answered on Thursday with his legs. There was nothing that the Dutch team could have done to stop him. Sometimes, it really is just about the strongest rider on the day. In this generation, that rider is, more often than not, Tadej Pogačar.
The Slovenian said he sensed the signs of weakness in Visma early on, noting the bad day of Matteo Jorgenson and seeing that the plan they were trying to execute of getting riders in the break was, ultimately, failing. Pogačar smelled blood, and that is dangerous.
“The biggest switch in my head was when I saw what Visma tried. They followed the plan and I saw that not everyone was feeling super great from them, and that was the moment where I switched [and thought] OK, today can be a really good day,” the 26-year-old grinned in his post-race press conference, sporting his newly-reclaimed yellow jersey – an outfit he has become very comfortable in over the years.
“Jhony [Jhonatan Narváez] was still there, Marc Soler was not far but we were like 'OK, maybe he can come back', Adam [Yates] was there, Tim [Wellens] was in the front, so all this meant that in the mental part, today can be a good day and in the end when we come to the last climb, I was still feeling OK. It was really hot, but the team did a super good job cooling me down and everything, so I was really feeling good for the last climb,” he continued.
The mood at the Visma-Lease a Bike bus at the end of stage 12, after Vingegaard had lost an eventual two minutes to Pogačar, was subdued. Like all of us, they had hoped to put up more of a challenge. This Tour has been planned for weeks, the race strategy mapped, the riders trained and primed to make it happen. Ultimately, stage 12 has ruined it all.
“I think Jonas was feeling well, but on the last climb of course, Pogačar was clearly the best, and in the end he also suffered a lot. I haven't spoken to the riders yet, but it was a very hard day and in the end the best rider won,” Grischa Niermann, Visma sports director, shrugged after the race. “I think it was for sure not Vingegaard’s best day, but he's still the best of the rest, and congrats to Tadej and to UAE. They showed who is the strongest rider here.”
Part of Pogačar’s motivation to not just hurt his rivals, but destroy any semblance of morale they may have, was to put his Hautacam demons to sleep. Three years ago on this very same mountain, he dramatically lost the Tour when Visma dropped him after a perfect strategy with Wout van Aert acting as a satellite rider for Vingegaard. At the best of times, the three-time Tour winner is a serious threat in the mountains, this is only exacerbated when he is vengeful.
“I was quite nervous at the start, it was a big breakaway. For sure 2022, when I lost the Tour, here was playing a role in that. Even though I really like this climb and everything, I lost it that day, so I was really motivated today,” Pogačar said afterwards.
The pure, unrivalled strength that Pogačar showed on stage 12 is not news, of course. We’ve seen him do this over and over again. While Vingegaard grimaced, rocking and rolling over his bike to limit his losses on a scorching hot day in the Pyrenees, Pogačar looked calm and pedalled smoothly, his rainbow bands a fading blur on the horizon. The crash on Wednesday was simply a faded memory. This was a bike rider as good, if not better than ever.
“Based on my feeling, I feel at the best moment of my career. I'm riding in a rainbow jersey, I ride with an amazing team, amazing teammates, so it's like a fairytale for me, riding on the bike these last couple of years,” Pogačar said after the race. “[Whilst I still] enjoy this bike riding stuff and I'm enjoying this sufferfest with the fans on the road, then I think I can still go this deep and have this level, this shape. I think once this fire will go out, I will probably decline my performance, but so far I'd say that now is the peak of my career, and the last two, three years, and I try to hold it as long as I can.”
How long he manages to remain at the very pinnacle of professional cycling is yet to be seen, but we can be relatively certain that Pogačar will hold the form he showed on stage 12 of the Tour de France until the race reaches its conclusion in Paris this year. Of course, anything can happen in terms of crashes and mishaps, but if he stays upright, then this Tour seems in the hands of the world champion. There is nothing to criticise any other teams for, there were no other options. Tadej Pogačar is the best bike rider in the world. And on a mountain at the Tour de France, nothing else matters.
