"In every interview they tell me that I have to save energy, but I love racing on instinct" - Tadej Pogacar stretches Tour de France advantage to near two minutes
CyclingSunday, 14 July 2024 at 11:08
Tadej Pogacar was at his very best on stage 14 of the 2024 Tour de France. After the blow of being caught and beaten by Jonas Vingegaard a few days prior, the UAE Team Emirates leader gained revenge and around 40 seconds on the Dane with a blistering attack on the final climb of stage 14.
“The plan was to win the stage in the final sprint and try to get a few bonus seconds, but winning like this is way better!" reflected a beaming Pogacar in his post-stage interview. "We found ourselves in an ideal scenario. Adam Yates’ attack put me in a situation in which I could attack, following my instinct. It’s because of the excellent work of my teammates that I’ve done this, and I’m thankful to all of them. I’m super happy I’ve won. I’ve got one more Tour stage win now. Let’s keep this positive energy so we can win more. This Tour de France must be great to watch on TV."
As Yates mentioned in his own post-stage interview, the UAE Team Emirates tactic of sending the Brit on the attack as a satellite rider for Pogacar to bridge across, was not a pre-planned move. "I was feeling really good today. Things were not going according to plan on the final climb, as we were missing one man - Juan Ayuso had to pull out from the race yesterday and so Joao Almeida was working very hard already with 8 km to go," Pogacar explains. "I saw an opportunity that Adam Yates could attack and go for the stage win himself, relieving us from pulling in the Yellow Jersey group."
"Then, as I was feeling super good and nobody was trying anything GC-wise, I saw an opportunity to attack myself, bridge across and get a good gap for the GC as well as the stage win. I want to stress my thanks to Adam for his work today," concludes the Slovenian, who now leads the general classification by 1:57 over Jonas Vingegaard. "The situation in the GC is definitely better now than it was before the stage, but you never know how things will end up. There is a long way to go until Nice. The real mountain stages just started today! The key is we have a strong team to support my options. In every interview they tell me that I have to save energy, but I love racing on instinct. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t… but I love it that way.”
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Why do I get the feeling that this chat group is heavily pro-Jonas? When Jonas gained 1 second on Tadej in a photo-finish, a lot of pundits lambasted Pogacar for stupid racing tactics.. Now he puts on the same tactics and gains 40 seconds on Jonas.. and it's so eerily quiet in the chat room.. Funny armchair DS pundits..
Well said. Both Stage 11 and 14 Pogi tried high risk high reward strategies. On stage 11 it backfired slightly (1 second loss). On Stage 14 it paid off big time.
The comments here were pretty hilarious though. Pogi was apparently down for the count after the crushing mental blow of Stage 11
His intuition was actually smart yesterday. Nothing but praise to that. But Jonas may still take minutes away on subsequent stages. Most of the time, Tadej just used brawn rather than brain.
On stage 11, I could somewhat understand why he attacked on the penultimate climb because he wanted to replicate the previous hilly stage where he gained time on others on the descent. I think people criticize him not because Jonas gained 1 second, but the fact that Jonas gained 35 seconds on the climb. Having burned the matches, but still ended in defeat. I am not sure if stage 11 attack was planned ahead, I assume it wasn't. He kind of look bonked out because he was asking for gel from the neutral service. If the attack was planned ahead from such a distance, then fueling strategy should have been planned ahead. If it wasn't planned ahead, then it is kind of understandable why he bonked out.
Sincerely,
Your armchair strategist
On stage 11, Jonas may have gained 35 seconds on the final climb, but think.. Pogi built that gap mainly on the descent, since he attacked a few hundred meters from the top. Now what do you think requires more energy, to build a 35 second gap downhill, or to recover those 35 seconds uphill? The former (easier but more dangerous) requires more brains than brawn, while the latter, vice-versa. The re-fueling scenario worked in Jonas' favor then, but in stage 14, that didn't happen, and Yates contributed further by giving Pogi some respite to recover. But who knows? This may just be Jumbo-LAB's strategy, in preparation for stage 15 where they hope to overhaul Pogi's 2mins. advantage, and regain the maillot-jaune. That's why we're just armchair strategist, sitting on our living rooms and watching the action unfold, while the real heroes are out there on the Tourmalet.
Yes, no denying that downhill time gain is more energy conserving, but it always comes with a risk: crash. Tadej slid on that downhill, but didn't crash. Jonas saved his energy downhill because Roglic was pacing.
It could have turned south irreversibly on stage 11 if Jonas had the strength to push a little bit. That's the risk of bonking due to lack of fuel planning.
Don't get me wrong. I like the way he light up the GTs. But I just think that that brute force approach won't work in the long run with a peer like Jonas.
Stage 15 should give us a better picture because it's arguably steeper and longer. If Jonas cannot beat Tadej, then the odds favor Tadej.
On stage 11 pog had refuelling issues ! He’d have easily put a min but shit happens when you race on instinct like not having the gels and sugar when you need em or the adrenaline rush deviates your focus now and then !