By Julien Pretot
COMBLOUX, France (Reuters) – Tadej Pogacar was knocked to the canvas by the Tour de France’s overall leader Jonas Vingegaard in Tuesday’s time trial and will be forced to go all-in on Wednesday’s punishing final Alpine stage, but it might be lights out for the two-time champion.
Defending champion Vingegaard crushed Pogacar over 22.4 kilometres on Tuesday, extending his overall lead to one minute and 48 seconds to leave his rival and his team dumbfounded.
Last year, Vingegaard gained the edge over Pogacar after a superb collective display from his Jumbo-Visma team in the ‘stage of the century’ in the Alps.
This time, he alone did the damage with a mind-boggling performance in the individual time trial, again forcing Pogacar to risk everything in the final block of racing.
The Slovenian did exactly that in the Pyrenees last year, throwing everything at Vingegaard before cracking in the final climb up to Hautacam.
Wednesday’s 17th stage from Saint Gervais is the perfect opportunity for Pogacar to strike back, with the climb up to the Col de la Loze (28.1km at 6%, culminating at 2,304 metres) and a short, brutal uphill finish up to Courchevel.
“Jonas is at another level,” Pogacar’s sports director at UAE Emirates, Matxin Fernandez, said.
“With this gap, it’s complicated now. But tomorrow, the mindset of the team will be ‘attack’. We have two opportunities, tomorrow and in the 20th stage (on Saturday).
“Now it’s going to be attack, attack and attack.”
Pogacar’s ability on extremely steep and short sections give him an advantage, but whether he will have recovered psychologically is anyone’s guess.
His form, too, is a question mark.
“Let’s remember that last year and in the last two weeks, it was complicated to drop Jonas so we are going to try but be realistic,” UAE Emirates team manager Mauro Gianetti told reporters.
Pogacar’s flair and take-no-prisoners approach will be an asset and the 24-year-old will be hoping to create a gap at the top of the Col de la Loze and extend it in the dangerous descent before the final short climb.
It will, however, only work if he has the legs to do so and questions will resurface about whether his hampered preparation for the Tour, after he sustained a fractured wrist in April, will have a bearing on his final week.
So far in this Tour, Pogacar has not managed to gain more than 25 seconds on Vingegaard in a single stage.
Forecasted Thunderstorms could also play a role and Pogacar will be hoping for bad conditions as a chaotic day of racing could help him turn the tables.
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Toby Davis)
