Tour de France: will Tadej Pogacar crush the Tour in the Alps?
Slovenian Tadej Pogacar winner of the 5th stage of the Tour de France, a time trial between Change and Laval, June 30, 2021 Christophe Ena POOL / AFP
Text by: Farid Achache Follow
4 min
Saturday July 3 and Sunday 4, the Tour de France peloton will be in the Alps.
With the first passes, will Tadej Pogacar, on conquered ground, take power after his demonstration on the individual time trial during the 5th stage?
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On Wednesday June 30, Tadej Pogacar was the fastest on the fifth stage of the Tour, an individual time trial of 27.2 kilometers between Changé and Laval.
The young man has put all his rivals in agreement.
He beat the European time trial champion Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) and Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma).
But above all, none of the title contenders could compete with the outgoing winner, like the representatives of the Ineos team, who are supposed to play the spoilsport.
“
I tried to do what I could, but it was not really enough,
” regretted Geraint Thomas, winner of the Grande Boucle in 2018.
Pogacar, already a step ahead
Besides Richie Porte and Geraint Thomas, Dave Brailsford's team, winner of seven of the last nine editions of the Tour, presented themselves at the start of the Grande Boucle with Richard Carapaz and Tao Geoghegan Hart, both winners of the Tour of Italy . Arriving in Laval with 1 minute and 44 seconds behind, Carapaz slipped to ninth place in the general classification, while Pogacar jumped to second place. "
I'm not very happy with my time,
" lamented the Ecuadorian at the finish. Starting very strong, Tadej Pogacar, who says he is
“
in great shape
”, has never weakened. The 22-year-old put the competition to the test by driving at an average of 51 km / h.
A success that recalls his great performance last year on the time trial of the Planche des Belles Filles, which allowed him to overthrow the Tour on the eve of the arrival on the Champs-Élysées while his compatriot Primoz Roglic saw it already!
Today Roglic, who crashed heavily on the third stage, is 1'40 '' behind Pogacar as the mountain approaches.
Saturday July 3, the peloton tackles the Alps with the 8th stage between Oyonnax and Le Grand-Bornand, and Pogacar will be on its favorite playground.
Pogacar, at ease in the mountains
In 2020, Pogacar, in addition to the leader's yellow jersey, won the Best youngster and especially Best climber. He won the 9th stage between Pau and Laruns, over a distance of 153 kilometers. That day, in the Pyrenees, it was necessary to swallow four passes, including that of Marie Blanque, classified in the first category. He did it again during the 15th stage in the Grand Colombier (17.4 km at 7.1%, out of category), before crushing the last time trial and ejecting Roglic from his first place.
The first two mountain stages should mark the start of the altitude explanations between the favorites for the yellow jersey.
Tadej Pogacar, who is only 8 seconds behind the Dutchman Mathieu Van der Poel, will he take power when there are still two weeks of racing?
“
I got very close to the yellow jersey.
It would be nice to grab it.
The situation is almost perfect,
”he confided after his success on the clock.
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Tour de France 2021
Slovenia
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Tour de France: Mathieu van der Poel, the "little phenomenon"
Tour de France: Tadej Pogacar, or young people looking for a double