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.
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