From our special correspondent at the Grand Colombier,
And if in the end, Mathieu and Bruno were right? The two fifties from Aix-les-Bains, crossed this Friday noon at the foot of the Grand Colombier which they were about to climb with hundreds of other amateur cyclists a few hours before the pros, were formal: “Pogacar will win stage, and even the Tour. »
Of course, the incredible Slovenian did not repeat his perf ‘of 2020, when he had subdued the giant of Bugey (1,501 meters) in front of Primoz Roglic and stunned Egan Bernal, on the way to the first of his two victories of rank. At the end of a superb number, the Polish ghost Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) subdued in front of his colleagues the 17.4 terminals of this climb in the middle of the popular furia, by a damned heat and on slopes displaying by places 12%.
The 2014 world champion won ahead of the Belgian Maxim Van Gils (Lotto Dstny). But “Pogi”, 3rd, broke his place climbing record and above all, he snatched 4 bonus seconds at the cost of a sprint launched 400 meters from the line, which allowed him to still nibble away the lead. and probably a bit of Jonas Vingegaard’s mind. “I want to snatch seconds every day”, had prophesied the cador of UAE – Team Emirates at the start, Friday morning.
The fearless Dane clung on to only let go of his untenable runner-up on the ground for 4 seconds overall, or 8 seconds including the bonus… Before four terrible alpine stages, fortunately interspersed with a day of rest on Monday, his pretty sunflower overcoat is only 9 seconds long… In 110 editions, it is the sixth smallest gap at this stage of the Tour (the record remains the small second separating Cadel Evans from Fränk Schleck in 2008; the winner will ultimately be Carlos Sastre).
Between Coué method and language of wood
“My goal today was to keep the yellow jersey, I’m still in yellow so I’m very happy, however dropped the leader of a very shy Jumbo Visma at the microphone of France 2. In a finale like this, he [Pogacar] is much more explosive than me, I’m very happy with the way it went. “Okay, fine then… From the Coué method to the jargon, there is only one step that the defending champion has cheerfully taken when answering the journalists present on the spot.
Selected excerpts:
- “I believe in myself, I trust what I think are my strengths. The next few days will be exciting. »
- “I feel better and better, I want to do my best in the next few days. »
- About the performance of his team, where only Sepp Kuss held the shock in the climb of the Grand Colombier, while Wout Van Aert quickly jumped and Tiesj Benoot, so precious last year, also quickly disappeared after his to be burned the day before in a breakaway: “We clearly saw that UAE – Team Emirates wanted to do a very tough last climb, we told some of them to let it go. Overall the team did a good job. »
- On the dynamic in favor of Pogacar: “No, I am not anxious. I just do my best. »
Vingegaard may have excellent feelings, in which case he will surely prove it on Saturday on the road to Morzine. But if we only talk about facts, the observation is clear: the situation has changed radically since the first Pyrenean stage, the fifth of this Tour, in Laruns. The Dane then dropped the Slovenian in the coast of Marie Blanque. Second behind the ephemeral leader Jai Hindley on the evening of July 5, he was 53 seconds ahead of his rival. Since then, he has dressed in yellow, but he feels the breath of “Pogi” in his neck, which dispelled all the doubts born of his preparation truncated by a double wrist fracture, at the end of April in Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
The day after his disappointment, Pogacar set things straight by winning at Cauterets, before recovering another 8 seconds thanks to a sprint at Puy de Dôme which foreshadowed that of the Grand Colombier. “Jonas is a very good runner, one of the best climbers in the world so it’s difficult to unclamp him, he analyzed Friday evening. I tried with a long sprint today, and almost couldn’t finish but for a few seconds it was worth it. »
The UAE leader also explained that he didn’t want his team to take too many risks to try to catch up with a “very strong” breakaway and thus jeopardize his chances for the days to come. Useless after all, since the weight of the yellow jersey, and therefore of the race, still rests on the shoulders of the Jumbo.
“Another race begins”
Will the mano a mano last until the end of this Tour between the two aliens in the peloton? For Sepp Kuss, the Dane’s most reliable ally, “Jonas and Tadej have drawn so far but with accumulated fatigue and several successive mountain stages, another race begins. “We arrive on the ground that Jonas likes the most”, warns the American, according to whom the Alps will serve as “justice of the peace”.
More focused on long-term efforts than on dry accelerations, Vingegaard probably has this idea in mind when he always says “not to believe” that victory in Paris will be hard fought, as during the famous Tour 1989 won by Greg LeMond ahead of Laurent Fignon, by 8 seconds. From Saturday, in the Ramaz or Joux Plane passes, the Jumbo and its chef have every intention of passing on Pogacar’s desire to snack.