Vingegaard and Pogacar, the two best faces of the Tour face to face

Respect, admiration, rivalry and spectacle. These are the four words that can define the great battle for the throne of the Tour experienced this year between the two best riders of the gala round: the Danish jonas vingegaard (25 years old) and the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (23 years). Before starting the 109th ‘Great Boucle’ what are the favorites for the last victory to appear in the pools. Two stand out above the rest; better to say, one: Pogacar. The Slovenian, after winning the two previous editions of the Tour, seems capable of continuing to win for a few more years almost without breaking a sweat, given his great quality and potential. In the background, the Dane, who was given the benefit of the doubt after confirming his upward line last year by being second in Paris.

After the first five episodes where Lampaert and Van Aert they exchanged leadership, Pogacar hit the first blow on the table in the sixth round, when he did the double: stage and yellow jersey, which he would repeat the next day, but with a Vingegaard that did not go down to the general. Until the famous stage of Galibier and of Granon. One day wherel Jumbo-Visma showed its potential, rousing a Pogacar who, perhaps due to overconfidence, lack of consideration for his rival or simply because he did not measure his strength well, ended up tiring with many attacks from to the Dutch firm’s runners, unable to respond to a final rush by a Vingegaard that left him dazed in the ring. One day, in a bad reading career, is enough Jonah to knock off the golden child of cycling, grab the lead and distance it to 2’22”.

Ahead, ten stages, with room for Pogacar to subtract the difference from Vingegaard and talk about success. It’s not like that. Tadej He tried it a thousand times, in every way, in every field, but he always found the answer of a Vingegaard who had the unconditional support of his colleagues, while he was left mostly alone in his formation.

However, Pogacar’s ‘fainting’ allowed fans to enjoy one of the most contested and contested Tours to be remembered in years. First because of Pogacar’s own non-conformist condition and champion caste, who sold his defeat dearly, and then because of the way the Jumbo-Visma team understands cycling, the leader Vingegaard. Instead of monopolizing the race and slowing it down in the style of the golden age of ineos, when they have the runners and the potential to do it, they give freedom to a Wout Van Aert who gave a recital and proposed stages based on the premise that a good attack is the best defense, which prioritizes the show.

The youth of both stars leads one to think that what they experienced this year could be repeated in future editions, with a Vingegaard that needs to continue to grow and a Pogacar that should have learned its lesson. They are two cyclists who are not that different, neither personally, very familiarly, nor in sports. One centimeter in favor of Pogacar (1.76 cm) and six kilograms less than Vingegaard (60 kg), between a better cyclist and endowed with a special gift for cycling like Tadej (professional since 2017 and with 43 wins) at the expense of Vingegaard (professional since 2016 and 10 wins ), who has the soul of a climber and he defends himself very well in the time trial, making him even more dangerous. The show for the next few years was tabled.