Pogačar vs Vingegaard showdown… for 250 metres
As soon as Brandon McNulty began thinning down the main bunch with still plenty of climbing to come, the expectation grew of Tadej Pogačar launching an assault and it being a case of Jonas Vingegaard being able to respond or not.
There was a brief attempt at the top of the penultimate climb, Pogačar going flat out over the top but then, when ascertaining that Vingegaard was able to follow, he relented and allowed McNulty to rejoin so the American could do the pace-setting again.
That tempo job lasted for almost the entire final climb of the Peyragudes, the time gap to fourth-placed finisher on the day, Geraint Thomas (INEOS Grenadiers) was 1’18 at the base of the ascent, and 1’37 when McNulty was finally passed with 250 metres remaining.
The 16 per cent wall to the finish saw Pogačar go first, Vingegaard seemingly match him easily before swinging past in his own attack, and Pogačar still having enough in the tank to pass the yellow jersey and claim the stage win in triumph, but without a time gap.
Should Pogačar have attacked earlier on the Peyragudes? I’d suggest if he felt like he was able to, he would have done so, he certainly hasn’t been shy about attacking in the past. I’d say that’s why he was so late with his attack on the previous climb, more a tester to make sure that Vingegaard wasn’t on his limit than him feeling personally like he was in great shape.
Tomorrow beckons, and Pogačar will surely look to empty himself there as regardless of his superior time-trialling skills, two minutes and 18 seconds will be too much to overcome on Stage 20’s 40.7km race against the clock.
Less is more
UAE Team Emirates were down to just three teammates for the two-time Tour de France winner Pogačar, with Marc Soler falling ill and missing the time cut, then Rafal Majka suffering a bizarre tear to his thigh muscle when his chain broke mid-race when leading the contenders on the final climb.
Mikkel Bjerg had been the man for the early kilometres of the race, while Brandon McNulty and Marc Hirschi had been only of limited use throughout the Tour de France, but it was a case of McNulty stepping up in impressive fashion throughout the final two category one climbs that set the stage for Pogačar to win. If the Slovenian had been in better form, it might even have been a race-winning effort as Vingegaard was isolated by the pace-setting for the majority of the final two ascents and the valley in between.
McNulty, 24, was talked about as a general classification star of the future when he burst upon the WorldTour scene in 2020 as a rider up there in the one-week tours with a mix of powerful time-trialling and dogged climbing setting himself up for a string of solid results. That consistency hasn’t followed him to Grand Tour efforts yet, but his performance today hints at great things for his future.
No Bad day for Bardet
Team DSM came up with an ambitious plan for Stage 17, the basics of which were to stack as many riders as possible in the breakaway and then use another teammate to launch Romain Bardet out of the peloton to join that group, then have the teammates in the break drive the pace. That plan actually worked, but the relentless pace-making of UAE Team Emirates pair Mikkel Bjerg on the Hourquette d'Ancizan and then Brandon McNulty on the Col de Val Louron-Azet saw the adventurous move neutralized.
Still it got Bardet up the road, and may have allowed him to avoid being dropped earlier by the pace of the yellow jersey group. It was also an excellent opportunity for Aussie Chris Hamilton to show how grateful he was to get a new contract with the team, working incredibly hard throughout the stage for his team leader.
Schultz a future general classification rider
Anyone else think that Nick Schultz is looking like a proper GC contender? He did the losing time to allow him to go into breakaways thing at the start of the race, had he not done that he’d probably be looking at a fringe top-10 performance.
The Australian climber has been the black sheep of his generation of cycling, never mentioned up there with the top talents, not getting selected for development squads or national teams and having to make his own way. His call-up between his stagiare stint and WorldTour debut was two years later than it normally would be, and he has only just got the opportunity to race at the Tour de France for the first time at 27 years of age.
After just falling short of a stage win on Stage 10 he has looked impressive and his recent performances in the third week of a Grand Tour when everyone else’s legs are dropping off have been very promising.
At every point of his career he has been a late bloomer, perhaps we’ll even see a blossoming into a general classification rider for future tilts in the high mountains?
Ewan actually looked comfortable on the climbs
It has been a pitched battle for the Aussie sprinter in the mountains at the Tour de France, almost every day has seen him waging war with the time cut at the end of the stage as the broadcast of the day’s stage winds down.
The shorter mountains day, with the three category 1 ascents packed into the final half proved to more to Ewan’s liking and he cruised over the line with over ten minutes to spare and still over 50 riders to finish. It was instead Fabio Jakobsen who nearly succumbed to elimination by the timekeeper’s watch, crossing the line just 17 seconds shy of the cut-off.
Climbing legs don’t really translate to sprinting legs, but at least it is some evidence that Ewan isn’t as badly affected by fatigue as the final sprint opportunities on Stage 19 and Stage 21 approach.
The Tour de France continues with Stage 18, one of the hardest stages of the entire race, taking in two hors categories climbs of the Col d’Aubisque and the Hautacam. Watch on the SBS SKODA Tour Tracker from 9.20 AEST, with the SBS and SBS On Demand broadcast starting at 2130 AEST.
