Tour de France 2022: The great duel between Pogacar and Vingaard ignites: can Tadej return to recover the yellow?

EHand in hand is still in effect. Tadej Pogacar has a great challenge to take up: subtract 2’22” from Jonas Vingegaard before the arrival of the Tour de France peloton in Paris. After the vain attempts of Thursday and Saturday, the Slovenian continues to insist on attacking. Now is the time to see how much of a calculator there is in his crazy strategy that only goes on the offensive.

What seems clear is that the winner of the last two editions will not go without a fight in his attack for the third consecutive and that the slump he experienced at Granon, where he gave up the yellow jersey at Vinggaard, did not erase his warrior soul. “It was an error that you are already aware of”, recognizes its director Mauro Gianetti in MARCA.

The Slovenian must counter the power of one of the strongest cyclists in the peloton protected by the most powerful team, the Giant.

The race has changed in appearance. The strongest runner is no longer in a defensive position and the best team no longer needs to be offensive. The ‘yellow jackets’ managed to Pogacar gave up thanks to the “total attack” that his compatriots put into practice in the world of football. It is true that the emirates are under the minimum, with five positives so far on the Tour and three dropouts (although that of its director Matxin could be “erased” if he arrives in Paris once cured).

Listen to the 18th episode of the Tour:

One of the best men Rafal Majka, is still in the race to have a low contagion rate. Tadej clings to him with McNulty and Marc Soler. They are your guardian angels. Even if the naughty boy, who cut his hair the day off and no longer has the famous locks sticking out of the holes in the case, is still happy despite everything.

“I will try until the end”, repeats the Slovenian, a speech that no one doubts, even less Vinggaard, who knows that second place is not enough for his rival. Alpe d’Huez It was already the scene of the first skirmishes, two attacks of little faith and a final acceleration in the final straight which did not allow him to outrun the Dane. “He attacked to see that he was himself again, without the confidence of the previous days. But now he’s got that confidence back, he knows he’s fine,” his partner said. Soler.

Total trust

Confidence reigns within the team and they know that on the way to Paris there is ground where they can set up ambushes, with three key events in sight, the two days in the Pyrenees, with two terrible finishes in vertex, and time trial of Rocamadour, 40.7 kilometers on the eve of the triumphant descent of the Champs-Elysées. “If we do our job, we will have our opportunities,” assured Soler. In the peloton, given what has been seen in 2020, no one doubts that Pogacar can turn the tide. “With him everything is possible”, warns Verona. “He’s stronger than ever, he had a bad day, but he can come back,” adds Ion Izaigre. “I trust him and the UAE,” Matxin said from home. Everyone, inside and outside his team, sees him capable of coming back.

An exercise in which the Slovenian is superior to Vinggaard (despite Jonah better his time in the last time trial of the Tour 2021 when everything was already settled), but not so much as to snatch the current rent, so the Slovenian will have to attack earlier, get closer in the general classification and put the ghost of the doubt and The Board of Beautiful Girlswhere against the clock Primoz Roglic lost the 2020 Tour against Pogacar.

But United Arab Emirates He is aware that he must channel the ardor of his leader, who realized in the Granon that every pedal stroke counts in the Tour and that fatigue takes its toll. Tadej knows he was overconfident and now needs to change the dynamic, but that involves using intelligence to defeat the Jumbo Train.

“Pogacar spent too much in the team at the beginning, without rhyme or reason, he blew it all up in 3 days. Then they had Covid problems, but if he lost the yellow jersey it’s because of him , because he accelerated, attacked and paid for it. He didn’t see the maneuver of the Jumbo. It was a mistake more on his part than on the team’s,” commented momtalking in the BE. The national coach highlighted the conditions of Pogacar, whom he has known since his passage under the age of 23, and believes that he should have interpreted the work of the Jumbo “to find the fault”.

On the attack but with the head

As summarized by the director of UAE, Gianetti, Vingaard’s advantage is “that he has two teams, his own and Van Aert”. The Belgian has been the most influential man on the Tour so far. He was decisive in reducing the losses of his leader in the “pavs” stage and conditioned the race on many occasions with his exceptional power put to the service of the Jumbo.” It is a very intense duel between two cracks, with multiple faces. to faces, we hadn’t seen that even in the days of Indurain,” recalls Patxi Vila.

Close to Kruijswijk y Kuus (Roglic abandon este domingo) They are part of a difficult army to challenge. “We know that as a team we are stronger. That’s our great resource and the one we have to hold on to,” he said. Shut up MARCA. Until his fall in the Granon, Pogacar could only beat Vingaard by 8 seconds in the initial time trial in Copenhagen and in another 13 on the cobblestones, to which the bonuses must be added.

The yellow carries

Now you have to look for seconds in every corner if you want to wear yellow again. On the attack, but with a head. Pogacar is currently the best ‘suicide bomber’ in the world. And he knows that Jonas isn’t quite calm “because the yellow is wearing out.” “From experience I know”, assured the Slovenian, not so much to the one who wears it as to the team which is obliged to defend it. More if you have to be aware of an enemy lurking around every corner. “I don’t know if they fear me, but they’re behind my wheel all the time and they won’t let me go. Our strategy is to stress Vingaard and Jumbo as much as possible. I think it worked,” said added Tadej this Saturday after Mende’s day.

The Dane, who responded in first person to Pogacar’s attack on 180 kilometers to the finish line, burned the team on the way to Mende and found himself alone in the last ascent, very hard although only 3 kilometers long, where he responded with solvency to the attack of the Slovenian. It was an explosive climb, where he was at a disadvantage compared to his rival, but he resisted well, without giving the feeling of being able to give in at any moment. “He made good attacks, but I expected it, I was able to follow him and that gives me a lot of confidence. It was not easy, it never is in cycling at this level, but I’m glad I resisted”remembers the Dane.

The 2’22” he has for rent are golden, but in front there is dirt in the Pyrenees for the Slovenian to find income and, above all, a final 40 kilometer time trial which, like two years ago against Roglic, could be decisive. For this reason, the Dane doesn’t rule out hitting Pogacar more, giving him the knockout blow. To the intimidation, he responded with a threat. The war of nerves has begun.