Tadej Pogačar’s victory on stage 3 of the Tour de France has raised familiar concerns over his dominance of the race and the sport, with several pundits questioning the wisdom of he and his team’s tactics on Monday.
Stage 3 looked like a surefire breakaway day, but after a mammoth battle to form an escape, it was kept on a short leash by Visma-Lease a Bike before Pogačar’s UAE Team Emirates’ men buried themselves to chase it down and set up a sprint from a reduced peloton.
Pogačar duly delivered, claiming his 22nd Tour de France stage victory and wrestling the yellow jersey back from Jonas Vingegaard but there was a sense of dejection among the breakaway hopefuls, who sensed that once again they’ll be feeding off scraps in this Tour.
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That feeling was felt keenly in the studio of the home nation’s host broadcaster France Télévisions, where discussion of UAE’s tactics dominated the post-stage Vélo Club show on Monday.
“Repulsed is a little strong maybe,” said former pro Yoann Offredo, who settled on “it didn’t please me”, as his overarching feeling on the matter.
“The scene was so well set, we had the possibility of a Frenchman in yellow in Alex Baudin, we had all that work from TotalEnergies, who did an incredible race, with Mattéo Vercher doing a crazy race. These are riders who have enormous potential and they are left with zero metres," he said.
“Of course, in sport the goal of cycling is to win, but their demonstration of force – yesterday when Pogačar gifted the victory to Isaac del Toro and now with the victory of Pogačar - honestly did not please me. They have the biggest budget and the best riders, so it’s logical but it doesn’t please me.”
Pogačar has not been entirely cannibalistic at this Tour, notably slowing up in the stage 2 finale to allow his younger teammate Del Toro to taste a first Tour de France stage victory. However, there were question marks over the rewards of his victory on stage 3 – which yielded six seconds over key rival Jonas Vingegaard – compared to the risks.
“They have every right to want to win, and they have the means to do so, but beyond that I don’t see what purpose it really serves,” said former yellow jersey wearer and 4th place finisher Thomas Voeckler.
“There’s big chance Pogačar wins the stage at the end, but what use is it to burn through so many teammates? It was hard stage, it was fast, there are three weeks left… I didn’t understand this need to ride behind the breakaway.
“I think it’s a strategic error. Because wanted to win, he put all his teammates to work and that could come back around in the third week. He is a super champion, he has a lot of panache, he is great for cycling, but we still have to question the common sense of that in a three-week race.”
Laurent Jalabert was less critical than Voeckler and Offredo, simply seeing Pogačar’s appetite as a fact of life – “I think he dreams at night about winning races, and when he wakes up he says ‘I will win today’.”
However, the former Vuelta a España winner did issue a warning of his own in relation to Pogačar’s perceived hogging of the spoils.
“The day when he has his wings clipped or he has a tough moment, he can’t expect help from whoever else,” Jalabert said.
What was Pogačar’s response, and what do his rivals think?
Pogačar was invited into the Vélo Club studio, where these points were put directly to him.
“I don’t know how to reply to this. I don’t know how long I can keep defending this jersey – this might be the last day, you never know. You need to enjoy the moment," he said.
"We’re here to win, and everyone would do the same, I think. There’s still a long way to Paris, and you never know what happens, so you have to race in the moment. You can’t have a Playstation and say ‘we’ll take all the time in the final week’. If you have good legs you have to use them.”
As for his rivals, there may have been a sense of disappointment and dejection, but it seems there are no hard feelings.
“It’s a shame they didn’t let the breakaway go – it was a good chance for them – but as Tadej said, if you have the chance to win you shouldn’t pass it up,” said Remco Evenepoel.
“They have a whole squad of riders who can win stages and even Grand Tours, so why would they leave things for others? When you’re strong, you should take advantage,” said Netcompany-Ineos’ Kevin Vauquelin.
And Raul García Pierna summed it up on behalf of all the breakaway hopefuls in this Tour de France: “There’s nothing to be done except to try again and wait for the day they don’t want to win.”
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