Tour de France, Arensman wins in the Pyrenean stage. Wingegaard teases but Pogacar commands
Fog and rain at the Tour de France. Low clouds over the Pyrenees enveloped Dutchman Thymen Arensman as he crossed the finish line in Superbagnares (1,804 meters).
A fine feat, that of Arensman, 25 years old from Ineos, which began many kilometers earlier on the ramps of the old and glorious Tourmalet with a small group of brave riders who then, little by little, filed out onto the road.
You'll rightly ask: what did His Illustrious Majesty Pogacar do in the highly anticipated Pyrenean stage, with 5,000 meters of elevation gain and historic mountains such as Tourmalet, Aspin, and Peyresourde?
And his eternal rival, Joanas Vingegaard, almost always forced to play the brave fighter who must then yield to the superpowers of the yellow jersey? What have the two Tour protagonists invented this time?
For a day, on what should have been the most explosive stage, they played it cool, incredibly leaving room for the others. Only at the end, about 3 kilometers from the finish, when the gradient became steeper, did Vingegaard attempt a sprint to test Pogacar's condition, who until then had been strangely slow to react.
But it was just an illusion: because as soon as the Dane stepped on the gas, the Slovenian cat immediately stuck to his back. As if to say: where are you going, handsome? Today is not a day for chaos. I've already caused chaos in the past few days: I'd prefer to take a breather, but if you provoke me, I'll bite you like Alberto Sordi in the unforgettable spaghetti scene from "An American in Rome."
And so it went. After some hesitation, Pogacar switched on his own personal turbo a few hundred meters from the finish line, and that was it. Essentially, the Slovenian, beating the Dane by just a few meters, secured another six seconds to invest in his considerable overall standings.
He leads the standings with a 4:13 lead over Vingegaard. Third, almost 8 minutes behind, is Florian Lipowitz, the fast-paced German who, taking advantage of Remco Evenepoel's withdrawal, jumped up a spot, consolidating his goal: a spot on the podium.
The Red Bull-Bora rider is growing. Behind him, 9 minutes and 18 seconds behind, is Scotsman Oscar Onley, a fearless 22-year-old who isn't afraid to join the fray.
A word also for the tireless Primoz Roglic, sixth, more than ten minutes behind. A great time trialist in his twilight years, no longer having to compete with the two Tour giants, he's earning his keep, still floating among the best, waiting for his successor, Florian Lipowitz in the Red Bull team, to finally blossom. We'll see, but hats off to Roglic, too.
One rider who retired with his tail between his legs was Belgian Olympic champion Evenepoel, increasingly in an existential and physical crisis. His problem is the mountains, especially in the Grand Tours. Little by little, his engine, brilliant in one-day races, loses power and breaks down.
The final straw in Peyragudes's hillclimb time trial, when he was caught and overtaken by Vingegaard. A humiliating episode for a champion like Remco, always ahead when the clock ticked.
Now that the Pyrenees are over (this Sunday, the sprinters' finish line is in Carcassonne), we can draw further conclusions. Pogacar is clearly on another level. He's riding at a superior level. Vingegaard, though combative, isn't at his level. One is Gladstone, the other Donald Duck. Especially when the climbs force sudden bursts of speed.
But never say never. There are still three significant stages: the Mont Ventoux stage (Tuesday, July 22nd) and the two Alpine stages (Thursday, July 24th and Friday, July 25th), which could add a few more chapters to the great book of this Tour, which, however, seems already over.
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