Cycling – Dauphiné: Pogačar’s victory show and Lipowitz ‘exclamation mark

This time it wasn’t just the victories that convinced. On three stages, Slovenia’s bike star Tadej Pogačar was the first to cross the finish line. He succeeded within eight days, which alone is an enormous success rate. The overall victory could not be taken from him. But even more impressive than his winning streak was the looseness he radiated. While his Danish rival Jonas Vingegaard made a fairly fierce impression when trying to put pressure on the Slovenes, he fell into the mode of a playful kitten. He simply disregarded the old wisdom of endurance sports that the base of winning lies in the permanent saving of strength. Instead of getting the drinking bottles brought by his teammates as usual, he let himself fall back to the team car on this tour and dragged provisions for his nominal helper Pavel Sivakov (France).

They are such small gestures that characterize large champions. At the same time, Pogačar sends the message to Vingegaard and his racing team Visma – Lease A Bike: What you may think of, you will not bring me to the edge of my reserves.

This promises little joy for the Tour de France. Pogačar and his UAE team seem extremely superior. They leave rooms for other teams to try something. Lidl – Trek, for example, was allowed to shape the sprint stages and also drove a convincing victory with the fastest man in the Peloton, the Italian Jonathan Milan. Exceptors were also left out. On Sunday, for example, classic specialist Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands) delivered a solo show. The stronger climber Lenny Martinez (France) then started.

The German Florian Lipowitz also benefited from the long leash, which Pogačar’s team granted the outliers during this tour. On the 3rd stage, he just narrowly missed the stage victory as the fourth of the group. “Actually, it was not planned that I would go into the group. Maxim should be there, ”he alluded to his teammate Maxim van Gils (Belgium). “But when I was in there, the goal was to get the maximum out,” he admitted. He was also one of the most active in the group, reacted to attacks again and again, attacked himself. It was an idea that made you want more.

The ex-biathlete then delivered the more. On Friday and Saturday, he bravely kept in the favorite group on the race on Friday and Saturday. Pogačar and Vingegaard still drive in their own league. “When I wanted to follow Jonas, I quickly realized that I was going too deep,” Lipwitz looked back on the royal stage on Saturday. But he divided his strength well. And on both days he finished the finish line in front of the actually third of the favorites, the Belgian Remco Evenepoel. “I knew that I was in good shape. But I would not have expected that I was so good to go at the front, «he estimated himself.

He couldn’t quite build on it on the final day. He had to break down about 20 kilometers before the finish. His third overall place was in danger. When Vingegaard started, however, Evenepoel also came to the border of his strength. Vingegaard and Pogačar drove alone. Lipowitz recovered to even Evenepoel.

Even if Sunday was no longer a hurra performance from Lipowitz, it was convincing how well it limited the damage. In addition to the third place, wages were also the winning of the young talent.

He should have his starting place for the Tour de France, even if team boss Ralph Denk emphasized “ND” to want to make the last decision in the next few days.

Tadej Pogačar, however, knows very well that he will not only start on the tour, but will also travel to Lille as a lonely top favorite for the Grand Depart. The fact that his team led outdoors like the Spaniard Ivan Romeo (Movistar, winner of the 3. stage) and Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) can also be seen as a tactical maneuver in the direction of tour. Both drivers, both teams will certainly not refrain from working with Pogačar in certain racing situations. The big losers of the gallop before the tour are Vingegaard and Evenepoel.