"Three minutes can be wiped away really quickly" - Still all to play for between Tadej Pogacar & Jonas Vingegaard at 2024 Tour de France insists Robbie McEwen
Cycling
After another brutal and unmatched attack on stage 15 of the 2024 Tour de France, Tadej Pogacar now holds an advantage of 3:09 in the general classification, over his great rival Jonas Vingegaard. Race over then? Not just yet insists sprint legend turned Eurosport analyst Robbie McEwen.
"It's almost wrapped up. But it's still only three minutes and nine seconds, that's not a huge 'race over' gap," analyses the Australian on Eurosport's The Breakaway post-stage 15, having witnessed Pogacar go past McEwen's own tally of Tour de France stage wins this weekend, as the Slovenian took victories number 13 and 14 of his Tour career. "It's a really commanding lead. But if something happens - if he has a terrible day, blows up, crash, mechanical, gets sick, then three minutes can be wiped away really quickly."
Nevertheless, the odds are definitely stacked against Vingegaard and Team Visma | Lease a Bike now. "It is a big blow to Jonas Vingegaard," McEwen admits. "They went all or nothing. We sometimes say 'to win a race, you've got to risk losing it'. And they did that and it looks like they've lost it. But Tadej still has to get there and defend himself."
With Pogacar now just six stages from a third Maillot Jaune and time running out to change the situation, it's time for Vingegaard and Team Visma | Lease a Bike to delve deep into their bag of tricks believes McEwen. "You can still think outside the box," the Aussie explains. "After the rest day, we are going to Nimes, even though it's not very windy around there, it's still windy. That is another option. They've got a really good team for that situation."
Joining McEwen on The Breakaway panel were EF Education - EasyPost boss Jonathan Vaughters and former British national champion, Adam Blythe, with both agreeing it's not over yet. "Robbie's right. A crosswind, a crash... three minutes is nothing," says Vaughters, with Blythe adding; "I reckon he's willing to lose second place. He's come here to win. Second place is great, but I think for him, he will go on the attack early, and just start playing."
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