Jonas Vinegaard , Jumbo Visma in this Tour they took care of every aspect down to the millimetre, going beyond the detailThe Dane is a phenomenon, but if you add mania to super performances, then the performances take on enormous proportions. The best example was the Combloux time trial. And whoever found himself fighting with him, Tadej Pogacar, he had some serious headaches.
This situation is reminiscent of what happened when Team Sky revealed itself to the world with its more scientific methods, repeated inspections of the most important stages, futuristic nutrition, ushering in the era of marginal gains. A situation that also reminds us Vincenzo NibaliThe Shark had to fight with these “machines”: from Wiggins to Froome, passing through Thomas.
A few days ago, calling Sky into question in the editorial we had writtenVincenzo transformed himself into a true war machine. He didn't give up his unpredictability, but he certainly showed up at the start feeling more prepared and prepared than ever before..». Starting from this sentence we involved Nibali himself.
Vincenzo, so Sky made you raise the bar? The situation of Pogacar and the UAE Emirates Do you remember yours and your team's?
I wouldn't make comparisons with the past, even if it's not too far away. What I saw in this Tour de France is that it was dominated by two teams, Jumbo-Visma and UAE Emirates clearly. And on many occasions I have seen the UAE stronger than the Jumbo.
The stronger the UAE...
Yes, in the end they finished second and third. Adam Yates Despite making himself available, he reached the podium and this can only tell us about a team that went strong and worked well. While on the other side they didn't have a Van Aert At the level of last year, when he dominated every stage. Yes, Wout was strong on several occasions, but last year he won the sprints and when he pushed hard on the climbs, he could outdistance Pogacar! And then there was Vingegaard, who repeated his feat. Compared to last year, Jonas was more confident. He rode with great intelligence and awareness of his own energy.
Awareness of one's energies: what do you mean?
Every time Pogacar attacked, he shook his head: he didn't give him substitutions. He only gave him a few seconds and time bonuses without exhausting himself too much, knowing that with a decisive action he would have given him a minute. Which is the same thing we were saying with Martinelli when we did our grand Tours. In addition to the time trial, we identified those two key stages… If something more came, so much the better. But we concentrated on certain stages. Knowing he was less explosive than Tadej, I think Vingegaard made this calculation: Pogacar gained a minute in ten sprints (including time bonuses and seconds), while he did it with a single uphill attack. I was like him, not very explosive. And when I was fighting with Contador, Purito, Valverde, My goal was to get to 200 meters with themAt that point, even if I lost, it was only a few seconds.
What will Pogacar have to do to reverse this trend? More inspections, more weight at the limit...
More than thisHe needs to start rethinking his exuberance, which is part of who he is. But he needs to change it during the race. It was known that the real rival would be Vingegaard, who is perhaps even stronger in that type of race, so I would have left the first move to himI would have waited for him, studied him… In short, I would have given myself a different role. It's also true that the fall of Liège slowed him down.
The Slovenian has also been inconsistent in his performances…
And this left me perplexed, especially on the day he paid a huge price (on the Col de La Loze, ed.), then he went strong again. It's not a given that he'll bounce back after certain crises. He even won a stage, though. Maybe on the day of the crisis the mental aspect also paid the price after the time trial. And anyway It wasn't the first time that Vingegaard was very fast in the time trial, last year was amazing too.
Pogacar wasn't feeling well that day, but his mental state also played a part. In fact, some information about his low morale after the time trial leaked out from his staff...
Pogacar knows he is facing a very strong opponent. For me Tadej is more complete and if we want I like it even more, but Vingegaard is slightly stronger uphill, also by virtue of his physical characteristics, he is smaller. Jonas is more of a “killer”, he is less outgoing, even on social media. A bit like me. I didn't post much, partly to hide how I was feeling; I didn't like to put on a polite smile. It wasn't a question of being grumpy or not: Vingegaard is like that. Just as his outgoing nature doesn't mean Pogacar can't focus on a goal.
Van Dongen, Jumbo's sporting director, said that a time trial like this is prepared months in advance, that you have to arrive with clear ideas and choices already made. The coach had seen the UAE Testing bike changes during the morning reconnaissance. Will Pogačar need to adopt the same approach?
Every team, especially at that level, has qualified personnel who know what decisions to make. The only conditions for immediate changes, in the case of a time trial, are the weather, and the wind in particular. Everyone has their own protocol. For me the point is not so much this, but the fact that Up to now, Pogacar has won with ease, while now this Vingegaard is causing him mental confusion. But he and his team have the quality and technical equipment to win this challenge too.
So, doesn't this situation remind you a little of yours with Sky? Didn't they indirectly raise the bar for you too?
I would say no… Do you know what really set Sky apart and why it was the benchmark? The budget. We had a high budget, they had at least 10 million euros more. And that meant they had ten stronger riders.Runners who support you and with whom you could interpret the race in a certain way: They took the lead and pulled for you and kept you out of harm's way on any terrain. You're more relaxed. And when you have such strong teammates, things change even in training. That's when you raise the bar, if anything.
In short, you had some followers and they were nine captains…
Let me be clear, I'm not saying I didn't have worthy teammates. I had people like Scarponi, Agnoli, Vanotti... But when you have ten top riders, ten riders who win a Paris-Nice, a Liège, a Tirreno pulling for you, things change. They had the best Boasson Hagen, Kwiatkowski, Poels… (Froome and Thomas who initially pulled for Wiggins, ed.). We, first in Liquigas and then in Astana, were not at that level. Yes, there were some people who later became very strong, I'm thinking of Sagan or Colbrelli when I was in Bahrain, but they weren't the riders they later became. So if we're talking about details, the reconnaissance as we were saying, it's clear that they matter, but there are other things first. And then doing an inspection in February or December is also risky for me. You don't have the same condition you will have in July and you risk getting the wrong idea.
