The domination of the UAE Team Emirates at the Tour de Suisse is not bad for some observers.
All the lights are green for Tadej Pogacar as the Tour de France approaches. Impressive winner of the Tour of Italy with almost ten minutes in advance and winning no less than six stages, the Slovenian has seen his main opponents seem to be struggling much more in recent weeks.
While the presence of Jonas Vingergaard, two months after his heavy fall in the Tour of the Basque Country, is still uncertain, Remco Evenepoel showed signs of weakness in the Critérium du Dauphiné and Primoz Roglic had all the trouble in the world at the to win against less assertive runners. For some, the fittest rider at the moment as the Tour approaches could therefore be Adam Yates, solid leader of the Tour de Suisse.
” Of the images from the EPO era »
“Adam Yates is number one behind the monsters Pogacar and Vingegaard”, said Nicolas Fritsch at the microphone of Eurosport. The English rider, third in the Tour de France last year, impresses but he is not the only UAE rider to show his advantage. It was the same for Joao Almeida, Thursday, second in the 5th stage, Thursday, after having done some undermining work on the last climb and winner, Friday, ahead of his “leader”.
“ If Joao is stronger than me, he can win. He showed that he was strong today, he set a very strong pace, and there were only four or five riders left. If he has the same legs in the next few days, of course he can win,” said Adam Yates about him after greeting his “great performance”. A performance that is nevertheless suspect in the eyes of some.
“Yates who pedals like a bodybuilder at 440 watts without breathing we know his diet but the festival of the teammate Almeida who does the whole pass at 430 eliminating the others, moves away then returns alone to his leader, these are images of the EPO era. Hello ITA”, wrote Antoine Vayer on X, the former coach of Festina adding: « 11.6km at 8.03% 31’42sec for Yates = 433 watts Stallion, the miracle continues, dairy products have an effect. This is 2’48sec better than Barguil 2016. Yates and Almeida, (2nd in the Tour) are stronger than almost all the other leaders in the Tour, but Pogacar’s teammates. Teammates too strong for other leaders. After Visma last year, it is now the UAE which crushes everything.