This exchange of ideas with Alessandro Vanotti began halfway through the Tour, after Pogacar's attack on the Grand Colombier, And it continued, stage after stage. Each day a little piece, from the Slovenian's conduct to that of the Dane.
«Have you noticed – asked the Bergamo native, at the Tour with Santini of which he is a testimonial – which when Pogacar attacks, the other one reaches a certain watt point and then doesn't follow him? He gets into his rhythm, doesn't let go, but avoids the overrevving of coming back under him...".
The day after, Pogacar attacked on the Col de Joux Plane and Vingegaard did just thatHe held him in front of 50 meters and on the top, accomplice the motorcycle incident, he also got the GPM discount.
Alessandro, the Tour is built piece by piece. You can't leave anything behind...
Il Tour It's the most important and difficult race in the world. The strongest riders participate, and it's not me who says this, but the statistics. Tactics get more complicatedThere are strong teams that can keep up the pace and manage the race to make it tough and manage the breakaways. They have men for every situation. A competition ignites between them, in which Some people expose themselves too much and some people hide and you never know if they are suffering or if they don't want to show their cards..
Pogacar certainly didn't hide...
And when he attacked, I looked at Vingegaard. I couldn't tell if he was at his limit, because he hides his fatigue well.He's always there, with that half smile. When Pogacar was shooting, Jonas was running on wheels and for me that's the tactic they set up from the beginningHe started doing it after the minute of lead he took on Marie Blanque.
Why?
Because that advantage allowed him to have a different approach to running and exposing yourself as little as possible. He's always made controlled efforts, without pushing himself to the limit. Pogacar is a champion and has acceleration like no other. It completely throws you off track, it destroys you.If you respond to his 20 accelerations, you're finished. With that margin in his pocket, Vingegaard was able to manage: he cushioned his little delays in that minute and has arrived at the time trial with more strength than Pogacar.
Could it be that the famous, never-explained plan was precisely this?
Exactly, he was smart and cool. It's not easy, because every day the press asks you why you don't follow it. Why are you not in good condition, instead it was a pre-established tactic. Even more so his time trial was so superior. In my opinion, Pogacar had those 2-3 bad days, caused by all that he spent, otherwise the gap in the end would not have been so wide.
Suspicions have been raised about the time trial…
I don't know if history will tell different things, but I think this is another kind of cycling and they are champions out of category. Why do we necessarily have to think badly? And I also wonder why those who raise such suspicions are always former riders, who enjoy hurting themselves so much. Until recently, they suspected Pogacar. So what? Vingegaard went strong, but if we then hear all the work they did and how they got there, I say that I would like another ten Pogacars for the way he runs, but the other one didn't do anything wrong, despite having a less strong team this year.
Why less strong?
Perhaps no less strong, but certainly more balanced. They didn't make the same mistakes as last year, even though they had Roglic, Kruijswijk and a more incisive Van Aert.. I note in the meantime that the UAE Emirates It has grown as a team, as a working group, so in the next few years it will certainly have excellent opportunities.
Pogacar finds himself in a similar position to Nibali, who was forced to sacrifice a lot for the Tour in 2014 to compete with Sky.
The Tour requires detailed preparation, but Pogacar is a phenomenon, and that's a good thing. As I said, maybe we should have more... Tadej brings young people closer to cycling, so welcome someone who has this mentality. Battle from Strade Bianche to Sanremo, from Flanders to Liège. Vincenzo did Flanders at the end of his career, however. He also raced in the classics and like Pogacar he put his face to itTadej is someone who exposes himself, he faces everything immediately with a smile and tells you what he thinks. "I'm dead, I wasn't well, I gave it my all." He's someone who exposes himself with his shots, he makes himself seen, but this time he's found a real rival. So, after the second Tour gone wrong, maybe he will have to analyze some details.
What kind?
They will have to ask themselves how to win. He must become more meticulous, make a structured schedule, hide himself moreWhen we found ourselves in front of Team Sky, first with Wiggins and then with Froome, at a certain point we looked at each other. "Instead of complaining," we said, "we have to get down to business and work the right way."When you have to beat such a strong opponent, you can't leave anything to chance. And Nibali was perfect in that Tour, we all were. So maybe Pogacar will also have to review something in the approach, because he found Vingegaard and the Jumbo Visma.
Even if it means abandoning other goals?
As I understand it, he doesn't want to distort his calendar and his way of runningI wouldn't want his racing style to be touched, like it was with Vincenzo who started, attacked and often won. However he too slowly got betterHe took his measurements and instead of taking 20 shots, he took 7 or 8 right ones. It won't be easy for Pogacar, because we're talking about a phenomenon. He has his own instincts and his own way of running.Did you see how he celebrated when he won on Saturday? Can you imagine what was inside him? It's not easy to change this, though. perhaps it might be necessary for the Tour only. Vingegaard doesn't give discounts, but let's not forget that he had in front of him a Pogacar recovers from injury.
It was said that he could race in Slovenia so as not to arrive at the Tour without having raced.
But consider that in the accident, in addition to the bone, some balances are also brokenThe fear of falling doesn't leave you. When I broke my elbow, in the first races nothing was the same. And so maybe, if you have a race ahead of you, you're happy to skip it because you don't want to take any risks. He's human too and to win the Tour, given the thousand details we're talking about, the injury is a big problem.Maybe you run up the steps, I did it too. But in the meantime, the body reacts to the anesthesia... Put everything in, he still had a great Tour. He came in second. But in my opinion, if he hadn't had that injury, he would have been even more so. Maybe they didn't win, but they fought until the end.
