Gcreates! The Alps are behind the riders of the Tour de France. The first big battles have been fought. Stage number 11 turned the cycling world upside down on Wednesday. Stage number 12 on Thursday, the French national holiday, on the way up to Alpe d’Huez didn’t change anything, but it didn’t cement the new order either. The dice are still rolling. Tadej Pogacar had experienced his Waterloo on the eleventh stage on the brutal final climb at the Col du Granon when the Dane Jonas Vingegaard from Team Jumbo-Visma drove away from him, snatched the yellow jersey from him and opened up a lead of 2:22 minutes in the overall standings. Pogacar not only beaten, Pogacar demonstrated – hardly anyone thought this possible after the outstanding performances that the Slovenian had shown in recent years and also on this tour up to then. As the earth revolves around the sun, so did cycling revolve around Pogacar. No doubt he would win the Tour for the third time at just 23 years old. An all-rounder: time trialist, mountain goat, sprinter. Even on cobblestones without blemish. The king of racers. And then this.
On the eleventh stage from Albertville to the Col du Granon, the king faltered, and then he fell. A revolution on two wheels that required incredible efforts. Efforts of a team, the Dutch Equipe Jumbo-Visma, who offered a joint brilliant performance, filled to the brim with courage and will and tactical skill. In particular, Wout van Aert, Tiesj Benoot, Steven Kruijswijk and Christophe Laporte proved to be extremely strong, highly motivated helpers to Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard, the two top stars of the team, with Vingegaard being the primus inter pares.
The self-confidence of an individual
The next day, when it was a matter of defending what had been achieved, keeping Vingegaard in the yellow jersey and smothering Pogacar’s anticipated thirst for revenge on the climb to Alpe d’Huez, the team was back. She controlled what was happening and let a breakaway go, from which the 22-year-old British mountain bike Olympic champion Tom Pidcock from Team Ineos won ahead of Louis Meintjes (Intermarché) and old champion Chris Froome (Israel Start-up). The performance of one of their drivers or two or three would not have been enough. The king was used to taking on a superior number of opponents, so maybe that’s why the squad planners of his UAE team didn’t find it necessary to provide him with a team of exclusively first-class helpers for the tour. The competing top teams Jumbo-Visma and Ineos Grenadiers are much better positioned across the board. And when first Stake Vegard Laengen and then George Bennett, the best of the UAE helpers, who were sad at the highest level, were absent due to a corona infection, the king drove all alone as the insurgents hunted him down on the memorable eleventh stage made. It was a triumph of teamwork over the confidence of an individual, a tactical masterpiece.
