Tour de France: Pogacar’s winning streak continues as he secures a fourth victory. Del Toro comes second
The curious thing is that we’re no longer surprised by any of this. It’s all perfectly normal. Whatever feat he achieves, we regard it as possible, well within his capabilities. Other champions of the past, such as his historic rival, the great Eddy Merckx, would occasionally lose. Or he’d cross the finish line utterly exhausted, with his face pressed against the handlebars, his hair plastered to his forehead, a mask of sheer exhaustion.
Tadej Pogacar, the ‘Cannibal’ of modern cycling, faces no such risk. Rest assured. When he crosses the finish line, having pulled another 44 seconds clear of Vingegaard, he looks as smart as if he’d just stepped off a catwalk, with his beautiful yellow jersey complementing his short, perfectly styled platinum-blonde hair.
Here we are with another stage of the Tour, the 14th, which runs from Mulhouse to Markestein Fellering – at an altitude of 1,192 metres – over 155 km. It’s a stage that’s a bit of a rollercoaster ride – as you can imagine, given the heat and the speeds involved. Naturally, the world champion won again this time, leaving the group of favourites in his wake around 1,700 metres from the top of the final climb, before cresting the summit and hurtling down the 7-kilometre descent towards the finish line. You couldn’t say it was a sudden, decisive blow; no, it was a steady build-up that Vingegaard didn’t even try to resist. The interesting thing is that a few kilometres earlier, when the leading group had been chasing the Ecuadorian Carapaz, it was the Dane himself who had set the pace.
He seemed to be having a good day, finally ready – after so many setbacks – to teach ‘The Martian’ a lesson; the latter, meanwhile, was playing it cool, concerned only that his young team-mate, Isaac Del Toro – who eventually finished second (+38”) – wouldn’t hit the wall. Never trust Pogacar, though. Having caught up with Carapaz, with almost all the big names spent, the Slovenian pulled away, securing his fourth victory in this Tour in his usual style, looking increasingly dominant, as if he were playing marbles. A hat-trick that seems like a carbon copy of his previous successes. Indeed, when the road starts to climb and the finish line draws near, the others know it’s time for the final showdown. A bitter pill to swallow for Vingegaard, now four minutes adrift. A gulf, bearing in mind that there is still a week to go before reaching Paris, where Pogacar will be crowned for the fifth time, just like Anquetil, Merckx, Hinault and Indurain.
But there’s still time to take stock, draw up rankings and compile statistics – which, all too often, are of little consequence. It is worth noting, however, that behind the yellow jersey, his young team-mate, the Mexican Isaac Del Toro, finished second, ahead of the Frenchman Paul Seixas, who is now fourth in the general classification behind the Belgian Evenepoel, who once again failed to deliver when the going got tough. The Belgian remains third, more than five minutes behind. For the Frenchman, now wearing the white jersey (the young rider’s jersey), it was another splendid day. He is only 19 years old and a place on the podium is starting to look within his reach. The French adore him. Which is quite understandable, given that they haven’t won the Tour since 1985 (Bernard Hinault). This Sunday, 19 July, the race heads back into the clouds. The stage (189 km) runs from Champagnole to the summit of the Plateau de Solaison. Any doubts as to how it will end?
