As the Tour draws to a close Saint-Armand-Montrond Alerts are triggered, fans are ready and No one dared to predict the fate of the day.
but, the absence of mountains in the 187.3 kilometers between Orléans and Saint-Armand-Montrond They don’t have to predict the sprint finish as the flat profile of this Tuesday’s stage can infer.
Experience has shown thatThe platoon could be cut to pieces on a road exposed to the windonce the east was invited to the day and the teams wanted to look for surprises
After leaving Issoudun, andThe platoon will enter routes with no surrounding vegetation and crosswinds can cause confusion.
Furthermore, in in the last 30 kilometers the road changes direction three timeswhich may be more favorable to developing fans.
And all this comes after a very ‘hectic’ ‘rest’ day at the Tour de France: truce on the road in the rivalry between Slovenian Tadej Pogacar and Dane Jonas Vingegaard, the battlefield has moved to the microphones of the presswhere the general yellow jersey accuses the third of running too conservatively.
The battle between the two does not lose a front from which it can exploit, to the point that the Belgian Remco Evenepoelsecond overall, asking for a place in that match.
The positions are clear. Pogacar stepped up his attacks in the first week against Vingegaard who arrived at the Tour with several kilometers left in his legs due to the fall he suffered in April at the Tour of the Basque Country which prevented him from practicing normally.
Slovenian offensives gave him away a profit of 1.15 against the winner of the last two editionsimportant achievements in the descent of the Galibier and in the time trial last Friday.
But the fly was behind Pogacar’s ear. “I think he’s minimizing his fitness. If you run like that, you’re not out of shape.”said the UAE cyclist, who believes the Dane’s Visma wants to break his mind.
The winner of the last Giro d’Italia The Slovenian insisted that Vingegaard was only thinking about his tirewho forgets about other rivals and whose whole strategy is his name in the spotlight.
““They are running against me,” Pogacar said on the first day off, a day after accusing the Dane of a lack of ambition..
“When you run that fast in San Luca, you’re in good shape. The way he ran, the way his teammates told me he was in good shape. I think he was trying to say he was better worse than in shape”he assured.
In the Danish field they sell silence and don’t get into trouble. The winner of the last two editions of the French round has a clear plan: lose as little time as possible before the third week, when they expect his body to be at its peak.
“It’s not a matter of courage”
And they do not enter into the provocations of their rivals. “It’s not a question of courage, it’s a question of intelligence,” said the Dane about his run this Sunday.
Vingegaard did not hide that, So far his strategy has been defensiveas the terrain is more conducive to an explosive cyclist like Pogacar.
Time is on their side and the kilometers get the cyclist to reach the form level of last year, leaving the 33 days he spent in the hospital after the fall in April.
“I feel good, I feel, every day I’m progressing in the race, every stage I’m feeling better. And I think I’m already at a high level. I would never think about it given the preparation I have that”he commented.
He is not at his best level yet, he said, but he believes in it There is land to recover it.
He wants to participate in the rivalry between the men who have participated in the last four Tours Evenepoeldebutant at the French round, arriving with the Vuelta a España under his belt and a world championship.
He The Belgian believes he can fish from the rivalry of the two and affirms that he is in good condition to face a Tour where the most difficult part of the mountain is yet to be climbed.
“When two dogs fight over a bone, a third may take it,” checked the Soudal cyclist, winner of the first test of the edition and second overall, 33 seconds behind the leader.
The rest of the candidates for the general classification are also waiting for their moment, although they see the superiority, at the moment, of the first three in the general classification.
Tomorrow, the Tour will face the second week that will take them to the Pyrenees, after overcoming the central massif, with two very difficult finishes at high altitude.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Robert Maynard, and I am a passionate journalist with experience in sports writing. For the last few years, I have been writing for Today Times Live. My main focus has been on sports-related stories and features. With my strong background in journalism and extensive knowledge of the industry, I am able to provide readers with well-crafted pieces that are both informative and engaging.
