ReutersTadej Pogacar on the assault on the ultimate climb to Pla d’Adet.
NOS Wielrennen•gisteren, 20:09
In full assault, Tadej Pogacar all of a sudden seemed into an opened bag of chips. The potato slices even flew round his ears, the odor tickled his nostril.
The person in yellow shook his head for a second. After which continued unperturbed to victory in Pla d’Adet.
Maybe the chip incident was a tantalizing reference to final Wednesday, when Pogacar’s daring assault on the best way to Le Lioran was punished with a painful defeat within the dash by Jonas Vingegaard.
Starvation pangs, was the reason.
Pogacar will get bag of chips thrown at his head on ultimate climb
Within the first Pyrenees stage, the person in yellow was not delay by anybody. Like a chess grandmaster, he moved his pawns, after which struck out himself. On this means, he checked his rivals.
“This was pure intuition,” Pogacar put his masterstroke into perspective. “The plan was to make it very troublesome for Vingegaard within the dash and perhaps get some bonus seconds within the dash, however that is a lot better. This is superb information.”
Starvation knock
For 2 weeks now, the Slovenian has been attempting to outpace his foremost competitor; on the steep San Luca climb in Bologna, on the gravel sections round Troyes, within the echelons on the flat and uphill within the Massif Central.
The harvest of all these drops of sweat till immediately was a meager 1.14 lead over Vingegaard. The truth is, on the final showdown On the Puy Marie, Pogacar was caught within the lurch.
The momentum appeared to shift from the Slovenian to the Dane. Till immediately. On the best way to the ultimate climb to Pla d’Adet, Pogacar’s staff set the tempo, however he stored his powder dry. Till about seven kilometers beneath the highest.
“Tadej gave me that order, I believed: what? Ought to I assault?”, stated a stunned Adam Yates afterwards. “Sadly I could not do a lot for him, as a result of it already price lots of power. However ultimately it was day and we gained lots of time.”
Let’s return to this morning. Whereas nearly all of the Tour peloton was busy holding the corona ghost at bay, Pogacar – relaxed as a consequence of the truth that he had already suffered a corona an infection simply earlier than the Tour – and Yates stood smiling in entrance of the digicam of the Tour group.
Requested what he wished Yates to do immediately, Pogacar replied cheekily: “Adam has to win the stage and I’ve to realize time.” Yates wasn’t so certain: “I missed that within the assembly on the bus.”
“Since final 12 months, we have been getting alongside very well,” Pogacar continued about his domestique, who even accompanied him on stage in Paris final 12 months. “In the present day, we’ll see once more if the connection works.”
And the way does Yates really feel about being in Pogacar’s staff? “Fairly straightforward. It is like being on PlayStation. We make the race arduous after which he does his factor.”
Watch the pre-start interview with Pogacar and Yates beneath.
Pogacar and Yates joked earlier than the beginning: ‘You win the stage, I am going to acquire time on the remaining’
That stage win for Yates was certainly not a part of the grasp plan. However the remaining was just about proper. Yates grew to become the superior pawn, a goal for the chief in his personal assault.
Yates himself had no thought what was taking place. “You by no means know with Tadej,” Yates laughed afterwards. “This morning he stated I might win if I went full throttle, however when he attacked himself he was proper there with me. Sadly I could not do a lot for him, as a result of I used to be just about damaged myself.”
Tomorrow a fair more durable stage
Tomorrow a fair more durable stage is on the programme, a climbing marathon of at least 197.7 kilometres with 5 Pyrenees passes and a mountaintop end on Plateau de Beille.
Identical to earlier on this Tour, Vingegaard sought a proof within the distinction in construct and explosiveness. “The final three kilometers of the climb have been considerably flatter and even a bit downhill and that fits him higher. However on the steep elements I truly got here again a bit, in order that additionally provides confidence for tomorrow.”
Test. However not but checkmate.
Watch the abstract of stage 14 from Pau to Pla d’Adet beneath.
Stage 14 abstract: Pogacar cracks Vingegaard on ultimate climb to Pla d’Adet
