Paris (AFP)

Cycling has acquired a "cannibal" apprentice, the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar, crowned on Sunday for the second time at the age of 22 in the Tour de France, the flagship event of the year which takes place. is concluded with a masterful sprint from Belgian Wout van Aert.

Long before van Aert's third stage success, Eddy Merckx, once nicknamed the "Cannibal" with 525 road victories, himself dubbed Pogacar, already winner of a monument in the spring (Liège-Bastogne-Liège).

Throughout the 3,414 kilometers of this Tour started with fanfare by Julian Alaphilippe (for the only French stage victory) and the Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel, the Slovenian extinguished all suspense.

All the more quickly as his main opponents, the Welshman Geraint Thomas and especially the Slovenian Primoz Roglic (2nd in 2020), fell from the third stage in Brittany.

The misfortunes of Thomas, winner in 2018, symbolized the powerlessness of the Ineos team, which came with four leaders to threaten the Slovenian representatives - a small country transformed into a cycling hub - and left with only a place on the podium for the 'Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz.

How will the number one team of the peloton, by far the biggest budget in the WorldTour, react?

Long imperial in the Tour, the formation of Dave Brailsford, seven times victorious since 2012, suffered its second consecutive setback.

Without ever having been able to threaten the untouchable Pogacar.

- A significant margin -

The Slovenian, irresistible in the two alpine stages, won in the two Pyrenean summit finishes.

From the first time trial, he had already shown his superiority.

The only doubt was his ability to withstand the crushing weight of the yellow jersey, which he had worn on the eve of the arrival last year.

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"This time, there was a lot more stress. It was more difficult when I was not on the bike. But, frankly on the bike, it was more or less the same," admitted the double. winner of the Tour.

Pogacar, whose UAE team has marked its limits on several occasions, got away with it each time, through the play of tactical rivalries and different goals from one team to another.

In Paris, his advantage over the Dane Jonas Vingegaard (5 min 20 sec) is the most important since the Tour 2014 won with more than seven minutes in advance by the Italian Vincenzo Nibali, who left the Tour this time early in the perspective of the Tokyo Olympics.

The sensation of the first week, the Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel, did the same.

"He exploded the race", summarized Alaphilippe, world champion and popularity on the roads of the Tour where the public has regained its place after a 2020 edition overshadowed by the threat of covid-19.

- A "wild" race -

In 2021, the Grande Boucle has returned to its habits, its traditional date of the beginning of summer, its strong emotions and its massive falls of the first week.

But also the suspicion that accompanies some of its actors (search for the Bahrain team), suspicions of doping or mechanical cheating, in a very trying race.

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The historically high average reflects the intensity of the daily fight, especially for the much coveted stage successes.

"I felt a lot of fatigue set in day by day," noted Alaphilippe (30th overall), in tune with most of the 141 survivors (43 withdrawals).

"It was an unbridled or even wild Tour", confirmed the director of the event Christian Prudhomme, struck by the youth of the leading roles, 22 years old for Pogacar, 24 years old for Vingegaard, but also van Aert and van der Poel (26 years old) who upset the scenarios.

"There is a new generation for whom anything goes, it carries everything in its path".

If the foreseeable difficulties of the former four-time winner, the Briton Chris Froome (36), classified in the last ten, corroborate the assertion, a counterexample exists: Mark Cavendish.

Four-time winner, the Briton (36) has equaled the stage victory record of Belgian Eddy Merckx.

He won his second green jersey in the points classification, ten years after the first.

But, in Paris, he suffered the law of a runner author of an exceptional performance.

For having won in the Ventoux stage, in the second time trial and in the final sprint, van Aert (26) achieved a phenomenal "treble".

Before leaving for the Tokyo Olympics, of which he will be one of the big favorites.

© 2021 AFP