Pogǎcar, big surprise, wins on iconic Alpe d'Huez
Slovenian adds another two and a half minutes to his insurmountable GC lead.
Tadej don’t need no stinkin’ team.
The GOAT, Tadej Pogǎcar, did what he does on the fearsome Alpe d’Huez. Perhaps fearsome for everyone else in race.
He blew the race apart, dumped his challengers — if you can call anyone that who’s already behind by five minutes — and then crushed the hopes of the breakaway.
He did it on his own, a solo show of absolute force. Teammates Brandon McNulty was out of the race, Tim Wellens and Adam Yates recovering from illness. No matter, no worries.
Dominance doesn’t need backup.
Race situation at 12 kilometers: yesterday’s stage winner Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) are up the road. Gap to Pogǎcar 3 minutes, 15 seconds. In other words, nothing.
Time to erase the deficit. He does’t even bother to get out of the saddle — that’s for mere mortals — no, he just smoothy ratchets up the wattage and au revoir.
Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) simply watch the inevitable happen. They don’t chase because that would be Mission Impossible.
The second and fourth place riders on GC continue at their own off-the-pace pace, resigned to damage control. Pogǎcar’s ace climber Del Toro is happy to watch them capitulate.
Were you wondering about Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5) and Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek)? Glad you asked, gone.
Up the iconic Alpe d’Huez goes Pogǎcar. Past the infamous Dutch Corner that one TV commentator described as the Tunnel of Debauchery. Not even the hordes of drunken fans practically rubbing shoulders with the Slovenian can slow him down.
At 5.5 kilomters Pogǎcar is just 58 seconds behind the lead trio. Carapaz throws in attack after attack — which is astonishing, considering how hard he worked yesterday on the climb of Orcières-Merlette. Kuss keeps dropping off and catching back, a human yo-yo trick. Martinez is on a great day, which means he can just barely stay on the Ecuadorian’s wheel.
The crowds are going bonkers — including Didi the Tour Devil who cheers on Pogǎcar as he closes to within 15 seconds at the 3.5k mark. Even the Devil is a Tadej fanboy.
Pogǎcar nails back Carapaz and Martinez and tries to drop them. First attempt, fail, second attempt, success. Tour de France victory #26, setting the fastest time on the Alpe since druggie Marco Pantani in 1997.
Who is Best of the Rest? It’s Remco Evenepoel, again putting to rest the notion he can’t handle the grueling, long, torturous mountains in the Alps. He drops the young Frenchman Seixas to take 5th on the stage, 2:30 behind Pogǎcar.
We suspect that Jonas Vingegaard, watching at home in Denmark, shook his head, thinking “Jeez, I could have done better than that.” Yup, he probably would have.
Pogǎcar now has a whopping 7 minutes and change on GC over Evenepoel. Del Toro is third at 9:42 and Seixas fourth at 10:06. Which is astonishing for a 19 year old kid in his first grand tour.
If Seixas can produce one magical day on the Alpe tomorrow, perhaps he will overtake Del Toro. That is more romantic notion than realistic hope. After all, Del Toro has the support of the world’s greatest domestique: Tadej Pogǎcar.