Tadej Pogacar delivered a
performance of frightening dominance at the Critérium du Dauphiné, winning
three stages and the general classification with apparent ease, all while
rarely rising from the saddle. The UAE Team Emirates – XRG leader didn’t just
win, he made his rivals look ordinary, including two time
Tour de France
champion Jonas Vingegaard, who was dropped on multiple occasions by a seated
Pogacar.
It was, bar a muted time trial, a
week of near total control and a stark warning to his competitors ahead of the
2025 Tour de France, which starts on July 5. In current form, Pogacar appears
unstoppable in his quest for a fourth yellow jersey.
His performance has not gone
unnoticed in the peloton. Speaking on his podcast, The
Geraint Thomas Cycling
Club, the 2018 Tour winner admitted he was stunned by the Slovenian’s level.
“Someone who’s active in the sport, let’s put it that way, and who was there,
sent me a message saying Pogacar was riding 7.2 watts per kilo over twenty
minutes,” Thomas revealed. “I thought about it for a second. When I was at my
absolute best, I could maybe hold that for six, maybe seven minutes. It’s insane.”
Thomas described the effort as so
smooth it bordered on deceptive. “You could see it too, he made it look so
effortless,” he said. “If you were watching, you’d think: why is everyone
dropping off? Just stay on his wheel, he’s not even attacking.”
But the damage Pogacar inflicted
came not from sharp accelerations, but from relentless tempo, high wattage
delivered with surgical calm. In both stage races he has targeted this season,
the UAE Tour and the Dauphiné, he has been almost untouchable in the mountains.
As for Thomas, the former Tour
winner began the Tour de Suisse in good spirits, aiming to sharpen form before
his final Tour de France. However, a crash on stage three towards Heiden forced
his withdrawal. He complained of knee and hamstring pain, and
INEOS Grenadiers
opted to err on the side of caution, pulling him before stage four.
Despite the setback, Thomas is
expected to recover in time for his Tour swansong. His role this year will
likely be one of experience and support, rather than outright GC contention, as
INEOS attempts to find relevance in a Grand Tour increasingly defined by the
Pogacar-Vingegaard rivalry. But, who wouldn’t love to see G pick up a Tour
stage win in his farewell?