Stage 11. #TDF2024 What did we learn today? - What a day in Massif Central! Jonas got a huge moral boost today - @TeamEmiratesUAE keeps messing up @TamauPogi fuelling. They could have sealed the Tour today but played it into the hands of @vismaleaseabike - Even Pogacar can…
"Even a Ferrari can't run without fuel" - Michael Rasmussen lays into UAE Team Emirates after Tadej Pogacar's fuelling mishap at Tour de France
CyclingFriday, 12 July 2024 at 09:21
Whilst Tadej Pogacar starts stage 12 of the 2024 Tour de France actually with a bigger lead than he had before stage 11, his aura of being the Maillot Jaune winner in waiting seems significantly diminished following Jonas Vingegaard's incredible performance and stage win.
There was a curious moment relatively late on stage 11, when Pogacar, who was solo at the head of the race, pulled over to the neutral service vehicle asking for a gel. Four time Tour de France stage winner and two time King of the Mountains, Michael Rasmussen was watching the action unfold, and via his official X (Twitter) account, the Dane laid some heavy criticism at the foot of UAE Team Emirates' door.
"Pogacar is low on sugars. It always a problem if you have to ask the neutral service for a bottle. Huge mistake from UAE. They could have sealed the Tour today," Rasmussen writes. "I wonder when UAE are getting their fueling right. It gives flash backs to the Galibier-Granon stage in 2022 where Pogacar also completely bonked 20 min. from the finish line."
Whilst Pogacar didn't lose any time to Vingegaard on the road, the Slovenian was somewhat surprisingly beaten by his great rival in a two-up sprint for the stage win. "Even a Ferrari can't run without fuel. When do they learn it at UAE?" Rasmussen questions. "Even Pogacar can pedal squares in a sprint."
As mentioned, Pogacar actually managed to increase his lead in the general classification over Remco Evenepoel, who remains in 2nd. But with the recovering Vingegaard now beginning to find his groove, has momentum switched into the favour of the reigning, two time Tour de France winning leader of Team Visma | Lease a Bike? Time will tell over the next couple of weeks, but Tadej Pogacar now longer looks the near certain winner of the Maillot Jaune he did a few days ago.
Read also
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- Why do the women CXs keep getting short changed with the length of theor races? They could have easily done another lap to put them at 50 minutes which is their time limit. Yet another CX race where they fail to reach this when they had a chance to. Come on ... the math isn't that hard to figure out lap times and divide into 50 min!frieders318-11-2024
- All pro cyclists are massively underpaid! The amount of riding and physical exertion they put their bodies through is crazy compared to other sports. I can't think of any other sport where you are physically active at a very high level of power output for hours on end each day.Pogboom17-11-2024
- When I was working for Starkist/Heinz my manager quit. So the next week my group was put under another manager. During our first meeting he asked if there was anything we needed to tell him. I said that I would be out the following week on vacation. He said "I don't know if I can let you go on vacation". I replied, "You can't tell if I can go. You can only tell me if I can come back".Sweep17-11-2024
- :-)Sweep17-11-2024
- What a mess there :-)
DareDevil17-11-2024 - So he read the comments here probably :-)DareDevil17-11-2024
- Alpecin is a MVDP and sprinter's team. It is unlikely that he will get a chance there as wellabstractengineer17-11-2024
- There’s no crying in cyclocross…Crashjames17-11-2024
- Pointless reporting. They are rivals, each tries their way to get their best result, with or without collaboration. As long as it’s all fair, why even report riders feelings about such stuff (yes I know, lack of other news). Anyone riding races will go through dozens of moments per race where they get emotional about the way someone else rides or takes advantage or doesn’t collaborate or more, it is natural, it is justified, it is NOT newsworthy!Mistermaumau17-11-2024
- I like that you can see you actually replied to you and not just to the same thread. :)Sweep16-11-2024