Today’s individual time trial will provide a rare image on this year’s Tour de France as Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar will not be wheel-to-wheel for a change.
Defending champion Vingegaard leads two-time winner Pogacar by 10 seconds, one of the slimmest margins after two weeks of racing, after both riders kept close to each other in the mountains, gaining only small amounts of time here and there.
On the climbs, Vingegaard has been Pogacar’s shadow in the second week, being dropped only briefly on the Col de Joux Plane, and the two men rolled over the line together in Sunday’s trek to Saint Gervais.
Today, Jumbo-Visma rider Vingegaard will start two minutes after Pogacar for a 22.4-km effort featuring the lung-busting Cote de Domancy (2.5km at 9.4%) with Mont Blanc, Europe’s highest mountain, in the background.
They are unlikely to finish with the same time and Vingegaard has been tipped to extend his overall lead over his UAE Team Emirates rival.
“I think he will take 27 seconds,” former Team Sky rider Ian Boswell told Reuters in a bold assessment.
“Jumbo-Visma have better (time trial) equipment and Pogacar is a rider with instinct, flair. None of that is needed in a time trial. Vingegaard will just do his thing.”
Last year, in the Tour’s final time trial, Vingegaard beat Pogacar by nine seconds over 40.4kms.
The overall gap will still, however, be limited after today’s 16th stage and the Tour will likely be decided either in tomorrow’s awe-inspiring stage to Courchevel or on the penultimate day on a brutal, hilly stage.
“It’s going to be a super hard week,” Pogacar told a news conference yesterday on the race’s second rest day.
“Wednesday’s stage is the hardest of this Tour but depending on what the riders want to do the 20th could actually be the hardest. If we still need to gain some time we’ll have to attack early.”
Pogacar has been the most aggressive rider, although he has learned to spare some energy after saying last year he made mistakes in failing to control his attacking side.
“I did some stupid things last year,” he said.
The 24-year-old Slovenian might, though, need to finish the Tour in full swashbuckling mode if he loses time today.
“It’s like a boxing fight. I don’t know if it’ll come down to points, or maybe a knockout at the end but in any case it’s got mouth-watering, that’s for sure,” said Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme.
“I think it can also be a psychological war but at the end of the day everyone focuses on themselves and when I see Jonas, he doesn’t look too nervous,” Pogacar said.
Pogacar broke a wrist in April and his preparations for the Tour were hampered but the injury is now behind him even if some questions about his ability to sustain his level of performance for another week remain.
“I still feel a bit of pain but the legs are good, that’s what matters and I don’t think the lack of racing (before the Tour) is a problem any more,” he said.
Pogacar says he
understands speed of Tour raises doping suspicionsTadej Pogacar yesterday echoed his Tour de France rival Jonas Vingegaard on the question of doping, saying he understood “people asking the question” because “we ride fast.” Pogacar trails Vingegaard by 10 seconds after a series of ferocious battles on the most demanding ascents. On the way up some traditional climbs, they have broken speed records.
On the rest day yesterday, Pogacar gave a press conference and the topic of doping came up.
“I get this question every year at the tour,” the Slovenian said. “I don’t see any difference than other years. We ride fast, every stage, we go full. I understand people asking question because of what happened in the past people are worried and I completely understand.”
On Sunday, after both men beat Chris Froome’s record up Le Bettex, the final climb of the stage, Vingegaard, as race leader, faced the media and doubts.
“I fully understand and we have to be sceptical because of what happened in the past or it will just happen again,” said the Dane. “Yes we are going fast and beating records so it’s a good thing that fans ask questions about that.”
Cycling has been plagued by doping over the years and not least at the Tour de France.
Seven-time Tour champion Lance Armstrong was stripped of his seven titles for doping, while fellow American Floyd Landis and Spaniard Alberto Contador also saw titles taken away because of illegal drug-taking.