When Tadej Pogačar lifted himself from the saddle 550 metres or so from the summit of the Col de Joux Plane on stage 14 of the Tour de France, it should have been clear to everybody on the mountainside that he was preparing to accelerate with the force of a thousand suns. He had done precisely the same thing at more or less the same spot on the Grand Colombier the previous afternoon, after all.
Yellow jersey Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma), who could sense his rival moving with intent on his shoulder, was certainly braced for impact, but the pair of motorbikes travelling a small distance in front of the two leaders seemed to be completely unprepared for Pogačar’s sudden launch. Their failure to increase their pace when Pogačar attacked meant the Slovenian was forced to brake and desist barely 40m into his effort.
Worse was to follow for Pogačar, who was then caught flat footed in the closing metres of the mountain, where Vingegaard outkicked him for the full quota of bonus seconds at the summit, temporarily adding three seconds to his advantage in the overall standings.
Pogačar surged in response at the top of the descent, though the pair were later caught and passed by Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) on the fast drop into Morzine. The Spaniard took the stage, while Pogačar beat Vingegaard to second place, snatching back two bonus seconds of his own.
This day of perpetual motion in the Alps had a little bit of everything, including a protracted early neutralisation due a crash, a show of force from Jumbo-Visma for much of the day, and a grand offensive from Pogačar and UAE Team Emirates on the Col de Joux Plane. And yet, when the music stopped, the top two stood more or less as they were, with Pogačar’s overall deficit inching out to 10 seconds.
As Pogačar made his way through the mixed zone in Morzine after receiving a fresh white jersey, however, that contentious moment atop the Col de Joux Plane was the primary topic of discussion. A very brief wobble after missing out on the 2022 Tour of Flanders aside, however, Pogačar has never been much given to public polemic, and he again opted for understatement in his assessment of this episode.
“It was a wasted bullet after already such big climbs,” Pogačar said. “To do one sprint for nothing is a bit of a shame, but I don’t think it’s going to change the final outcome. It stayed in the legs, and I couldn’t sprint for the bonus. OK, I messed it up a little bit. But it is what is.”
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