Was Tadej Pogacar favored at the Tour de Romandie? - "The most effect I’ve ever seen motorbikes have on a bike race"

The Tour de Romandie was marked by the domination of Tadej Pogacar, but was that heavily influenced by the motorbikes? Another account comes in of a rider who was in the Swiss race and felt in his legs just how much the peloton benefited from slipstreaming behind the TV motos.

This is something that was highly controversial during the week, especially after stage 4 in which a strong breakaway featuring the likes of Primoz Roglic and Valentin Paret-Peintre was caught on the climb to the Jaunpass, after being chased down in the valley beforehand.

Louis Vervaeke of Soudal - Quick-Step was highly critical of what he assumed to be a gap controlled with the aid of a motorbike ahead of the peloton. “We lost 50 seconds in five kilometres. I imagine that was when the TV broadcast started. It’s the same as usual. As soon as they go on air, the motorbikes are there and sometimes, for me, that changes the race.”

Paret-Peintre had taken it a step further, hinting at a conscious decision: “If the organization wants Tadej Pogacar to win, that’s their choice. We have said it several times, but that’s life.”

For years, it has been known that even at a distance of 20 meters, the riders leading the peloton can still obtain a minimal slipstreaming advantage from chasing down a motorbike. When the gaps are smaller, or riders find themselves chasing one at the moment of an attack, it can significantly change the outcome of the race.

However, it could be assumed that on that day, the Soudal - Quick-Step duo spoke out of emotion and disappointment following the demise of their day-long hunt for the stage win. But in the peloton, Team Jayco AlUla's Luke Plapp corroborates their claim.

“It was just ridiculous, sort of the difference they were making this week. I mean, when the break established itself, the UAE boys would control and keep the break pretty in check. You had one or two UAE boys chase in a break, and they were managing to keep it pretty similar," he said on the Stanley St. Social podcast. “And then the motorbikes came in front of our bunch, and the speed was just unbelievable in the peloton".

The Australian rider rode to fifth in the overall classification, so he was very much present during all the key moments of the race, not far from Pogacar. His account is only one more in a constant stream of riders talking about how motorbikes are currently influencing the race.

"We were just lined up sprinting out of every corner, and the time gaps just raced down. It was probably the most effective I’ve ever seen motorbikes have on a bike race," Plapp goes as far as saying. “There were some stages where it was just a bit of a joke how fast we were going and how much the motorbikes influenced it".