1. The Supremacy of Pogacar
He is still only 22 years old, but he already has 2 overall victories in the Tour de France on his list of achievements. Last year Tadej Pogacar could take advantage of the surprise effect and a little underestimation among the competition, then his supremacy was now almost shocking. The Slovenian ruled both in the mountains and against the clock, albeit served by the early retirement of rival Roglic. Those who remained had to quickly resign themselves to the mastery of Pogacar.
2. The Cavendish re Renaissance
If everything seemed to go against Mark Cavendish in recent years, the puzzle pieces in this Tour suddenly fell together perfectly. Due to the doubt about Sam Bennett, who was good for green last year, Cav was finally taken in. In the first bunch sprint he also saw sprint favorite Caleb Ewan drop out. His first victory, thanks to his vaunted sprint train, gave him so much confidence that from then on he floated on his cloud first to the Merckx record, then over the mountains and finally to greenery in Paris.
3. Jumbo-Visma recovers after Roglic loss
The Christmas decorations had only just been put away when Jumbo-Visma came out with his team for the Tour de France. The Dutch team worked obsessively towards the Tour, hoping to help Primoz Roglic to the final victory this time. When he had to give up after a crash, the disappointment was immense. But from this disappointment, new successes were born: the triumphs of Van Aert (Ventoux, time trial and Champs-Élysées) and Kuss (Andorra) and the 2nd place for revelation Vingegaard in the final standings.
4. The first week of Alpecin
Rarely will a team that was allowed to the Tour thanks to a wildcard (as the best team in the Europe Tour) brought so much spectacle as Alpecin-Fenix in the first week: Van der Poel surprised on the Mûr de Bretagne and did so again in the time trial by successfully defending his yellow jersey. In between, Tim Merlier also won a bunch sprint and Jasper Philipsen piled up the places of honour.
5. Attack!
It has become a Tour in which the attackers were almost invariably rewarded. Those who had the pleasure of following the first hour of competition every day saw a fierce battle almost every time to get into the race of the day and also in the battle for the day’s victory they often flew far from the finish to each other’s throats.
6. The 12 Works of Declercq
A special mention to Tim Declercq. Not because he became the red lantern of this Tour, but because despite his injuries he has not given up where others have. Before his fall, we also saw him do his well-known executioner’s work at the head of the pack. Such a familiar image that you will almost find it obvious. But of course it isn’t.
1. The woman with the cardboard sign
“Come on granny & opi!” It is the now infamous inscription of the cardboard sign with which a supporter almost knocked the entire peloton down in the first stage. Only after a few days was the woman caught in the (yellow) collar and arrested. The Tour organization filed an official complaint, the investigation is still ongoing.
2. De Belgische classics
In a Tour in which almost every stage was fought like a classic, the Belgians that we can expect in the spring were too few in the piece: Oliver Naesen, Greg Van Avermaet, Philippe Gilbert and Tiesj Benoot rode a too anonymous Tour and Thomas De Gendt also had to watch patiently as his colleagues performed songs that are normally part of his repertoire.
3. Movistar
With Miguel Angel Lopez, Enric Mas, Marc Soler and Alejandro Valverde, among others, Movistar had a dream team for this Tour on paper. But in the old Movistar tradition, things went spectacularly wrong again. Soler soon dropped out, Valverde was more concerned with Tokyo, Lopez fell through the ice early and Mas was unable to improve his 5th place last year in a Tour where many big names failed. One consolation: there is undoubtedly enough material for the new season of the popular Netflix series around the squad.
4. The “cock behavior” (aka where were the French?)
The Tour couldn’t have started better for the French: a win in the first stage for Julian Alaphilippe and immediately yellow. But he was allowed to hand over that jersey a day later and despite his frantic efforts, it would remain with that one victory for Alaphilippe. But that is still one more than his compatriots. Despite the fact that the French were by far the best represented numerically, it was a meager beast in terms of success. The intended classification men Gaudu, Latour and Martin also fell too often.
5. Ineos . “Offensive Course”
Ineos had gone to France with an even more impressive star team than Movistar, with not only Carapaz but also Porte, Hart and Thomas. Manager Dave Brailsford had promised that his riders would race “attacking and attractive” to counterbalance the 2 Slovenians. But in the end they just fell back on the old Sky tactics and it was the others who could take advantage of their little train uphill. The final verdict: 0 wins.
6. Organizer ASO
Tour organizer ASO stood on its hind legs when the woman with the board caused a crash, but remained silent when, for example, there was a fall in the winding final to Fougères or when the riders were warned much too late for stone chips in a descent, with a massive fall result. ASO was there like the chickens to take the popular YouTube channel Tour de Tietema, which lures a lot of young people to the race, off the air. Perhaps a matter of priorities.
