The image of Tadej Pogačar slumped over his bike at the top of the Col du Granon, his pale torso visible through his unzipped jersey, is one that will live long in the memory. Witnessing the great champions crack is one of the most evocative sights in the sport of cycling, especially when they’ve looked as untouchable as the Slovenian has these past few years.
Whereas famous moments like Miguel Indurain on Hautacam in 1996, or Bernard Hinault on this very same climb in 1986, occurred towards the end of their careers, this occurred during the exuberant days of Pogačar’s care-free youth, in which time he has looked as though he can do anything he wants on a bike.
However invisible he may look in future Tours, his rivals will now always have this footage to rewatch as proof that he is indeed beatable.
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Nevertheless, whatever ailed Pogačar yesterday was no longer a problem during today’s second successive Alpine stage, in which he had the legs to launch two stinging attacks in front of the thousands of spectators lining the roads of the famous Alpe d’Huez. Jonas Vingegaard might have been able to follow both times, and clung to his wheel during the final sprint to the line to defend his yellow jersey, but it became clear that the defending champion is alive and kicking, and intends to take this race all the way to Paris. We have a race on our hands.
All manner of reasons have been proposed to explain what happened to Pogačar on the Col du Granon. Was it the heat? A hunger knock? Perhaps he’d even fallen victim to the Covid outbreak that’s swept through his UAE Team Emirates squad this Tour? But given how it now appears to be a temporary problem rather than something more terminal, the explanation that the Slovenian gave himself — that he made a tactical error of trying to follow too many of Jumbo-Visma’s attacks, and suffered from fatigue later — is the most convincing.
In that case, Jumbo-Visma’s bold strategy that day deserves all the praise it’s received, for daring to take the race to Pogačar in such a risky and imaginative manner — and especially Primož Roglič, who, knowing his reputation meant Pogačar could not afford to let him up the road, went into the red in order to attack him on the Galibier,…