Nor did the new time calculation system disappoint in the team time trial, where the individual mark counts and not that of the block -it will be seen if it is applied in the future to the rest of the races-, nor did Jonas Vingegaard, in charge of a champion Jumbo, and a spectacular Tadej Pogacar, in a ‘time trial’ without winners or losers, with the Danish star cutting the difference to his Slovenian rival and where everything has been left open for the first finish at the top of Paris-Nice , this Wednesday in the Lodge of the Guards.
If from now on the ‘method Paris-Nice‘ In the team time trials of the future -it is not planned for the start of the Vuelta in Barcelona and in the Tour there is no stage of these characteristics- cycling fans can find spectacular days when all the riders from the same squad ride together . And because if it was the day when the block work was worth the most, from now on that effort is cut back and the star is rewarded, the one who arrives alone and sprinting, just as he did Pogacarto save a day that, if he took the time with the fifth cyclist of the team as was done up to now, the Slovenian star would have been much more penalized against a clearly superior rival team in this specialty such as the Jumbo.
Pogacar was so active in the first two stages of Paris-Nice, where he fought for even the slightest bonus, because he wanted to reach the team time trial with a time advantage where he knew that, yes or yes, Vingegaard’s Dutch team it was absolutely superior. But he, alone and with a spectacular final sprint, was able to counteract even the slightest loss of time that could have put the general classification very uphill,
Jumbo won because Vingegaard He also squeezed beautifully in the final meters. But, with bonuses and with a Pogacar faster in arrivals, assuming they always go together from here to the end, the 11 seconds that Vingegaard has now ahead of Pogacar are perceived as insufficient. And, above all, to the blessing of the spectator, the winner of the Tour is forced to attackor at least try, against his Slovenian opponent.
another dane, Magnus Cort Nielsenwas placed in front of the general classification, because his team, the EF, he also did a marvelous time trial. Now the whole mountain remains: two finishes at the top, another goal after a descent, the day of apparent calm on Thursday and the final sentence on Sunday in the surrounding mountains A string. But let the new experience of the team time trial be repeated in the future for the good of the show and of cycling.
