On paper, the opening stage of this year's Critérium du Dauphiné was one for the sprinters. Yes, there were spatterings of elevation during the finishing circuit of the 195km stage into Montluçon, but the mountainous tail of the race pointed towards the fastmen having their way on the first day.
That assumption was swiftly shattered when Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) powered off the front atop the final ascent of Côte de Buffon with under 7km remaining.
Visma-Lease a Bike's key man was quickly marked, of course, by Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), who admitted during his post-race press conference that he planned to merely "survive today."
A five-rider group made up of Pogačar, Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) and Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious) managed to hold off the pressure from the sprint teams behind and ensure they would just battle it out for the sprint.
Pogačar may have been the eventual benefactor of the late attack, winning the stage and taking the race lead, but he wasn't taking any credit for the plan.
"I don't remember me attacking. I just followed the wheels today. I never attacked today," he said with a wry smile in his press conference.
Whether it was just a move to cover his likely GC rival or not, Pogačar was glad it happened all the same.
"I was really happy that he attacked," he added in reference to Vingegaard's move.
"I think it's a good sign. He's in good shape, he wants to race, he wants to have fun on the bike. I think there was a little bit of hesitation when Remco joined the group, then Jonas was not very eager to pull anymore, I think he really wanted [to], maybe the [team] car didn't want him to pull."
The Slovenian noted the sharp form that his key rivals demonstrated: "They all looked in super good condition. Mathieu [van der Poel], exceptional once again to be on this steep climb with just more or less pure climbers, ready for GC, to be among them. It was a really good finish."
However, for all of Pogačar's enthusiasm around his rivals' aggressive racing, something he's never afraid to do, there also springs an air of nervousness in the UAE Team Emirates-XRG talisman.
"It was nice to see everybody in good shape. But now maybe I can be scared a little bit because they're so good," he said, perhaps only half joking.
Given the intensity of a stage that no one had earmarked for a GC battle to ignite on, the rest of the race will need to be reassessed, with the sprint teams' work made even harder than it already was to squeeze something out of the early rolling terrain stages.
The day also marked the first meeting of Pogačar, Vingegaard, and Evenepoel since they stood on the Tour de France podium in Nice last July. Pogačar was undecided whether this first round of action changes the outlook for next month's Grande Boucle, with pressure always on the trio to deliver.
"Pressure for the Tour is everywhere. Every year it rises a bit, and the level every year is harder. Obviously, the season is perfect for me until now, so in some way it relieves the pressure, in some way adds a little bit of pressure. So it depends on the day, how I wake up," he remarked in his typically relaxed demeanour.
"If you don't succeed at the Tour, then you still have a very good season, you know? And so maybe from that point of view, I can be more relaxed going to the Tour."
