POGACAR 10 What do you want to say to him? It is true that hegemony is built by captivating rather than boring, but if he is simply going so much better than the others, what is he supposed to do? Ease off? He locks up the Tour after 6 days, (to quote the wise man: the shortest Tour in history), on the first real climb he drops everyone, preserving the advantage on the descent and extending it over the long false flat finish. Just over two weeks to a fifth Tour, like the giants of the honours list. With 12 stage wins he would draw level with Cavendish, the absolute record holder for stage victories. Perhaps (!) he will not manage it this year, there are 14 stages left, mathematics does not condemn him, but he still has another three or four editions to have a go.
SEIXAS 9 What do you want to say to him? Part two. He is 19 and yesterday, basically, only Pogačar and Vingegaard were stronger than him. Not just any two riders either, quite the opposite: the two who are defining this era of the Tour, and whom he will beat sooner or later, of that we are certain. He seems to suffer quite a lot, especially at the start, on his first major climb at the Tour, but in reality he paces himself and comes through it superbly. One day all this will be his.
LOTTA PER IL PODIO 8 From Del Toro in third (rated 9, a performance of the highest level from him), to Skjelmose in ninth, there is a minute and a half, and in between a whole series of fine riders, different from one another, at times almost opposite, in talent, faces, background, and characteristics. Alongside the already mentioned Del Toro, Seixas and Ayuso, there are also Evenepoel, Lipowitz (I would love to see him dealing with the giant mountain stages of the 1990s, with seven or eight hours on the bike, absurd elevation gain, five or six cols to climb – I think he would go even stronger), Martinez and Skjelmose. There will be plenty to watch on the next climbs.
EVENEPOEL 7 Many had already written him off. Perhaps he will not be what we thought he could become, but the Pogagaard is on another level compared to everyone else. His fight for the podium is certainly one of the main reasons for interest from here to Paris, provided he does not crack on the next climb, together with his post-stage remarks, so far removed from the general flattening and the everybody-get-along rhetoric, and which continue to give stories, headlines, and joy to lovers of chaos and the unexpected.
LENNY MARTINEZ VS VALENTIN PARET-PEINTRE 7 At the end of yesterday’s stage Tadej Pogačar is wearing the polka-dot jersey, which Lenny Martinez will wear in today’s race, but the battle between these two French featherweights could light up the next mountain stages. Lenny, however, will be closely watched, because yesterday he was flying on the climb and for the moment he is in the fight for the podium. Valentin, on the other hand, is out of the general classification and will have much more freedom. We shall see, but in the meantime we are getting carried away, like in the days of Barguil, Bardet, and Pinot.
BERNAL 6 Commendable, almost moving, Eganito is right in the thick of the fight for tenth place, with what has now become his greatest quality: consistency. Clearly the best of his team on a day when Arensman blows up completely (and, as in 2025, will likely try to win from the break), the Colombian national champion remains reliable like in the old days when he was fighting for stage races, but with a lot of riders – at least nine for the moment – climbing better than him.
SKJELMOSE 6 Hugely underrated, almost in the shadows, and yet the ultra-skinny Dane is there again this year, holding firm and fighting for a top-ten finish in a Grand Tour. He knows how to win, he knows how to attack, he knows how to suffer through it: what more does he have to do to be appreciated?
O’CONNOR 6 Credit for the courage of that completely futile attack before the Aspin. A dress rehearsal for a more important breakaway from next week onwards.
AYUSO 5 Okay, he finished alongside Evenepoel, Seixas, Del Toro and the rest – riders rewarded with almost top marks – so why the disparity? Because for what he has shown in the past, for what he says and what he wants, we imagined him at a higher level. Postponed until the next climb, where we expect him to drop at least some of those he finished with.
JOHANNESSEN 4 Tobias Halland is the disappointment of the day (together with Carapaz, rated 3, who finished not far behind). The Norwegian takes a heavy beating and probably says goodbye to any top-five ambitions. The Tour is long and, by nature, he will likely try again from distance – provided they let him go. All this while his brother Anders was contributing to the crash of yellow jersey Traeen, who reached the finish dazed and battered and will not start today.
VINGEGAARD 3 The numbers will say he has never gone this fast, but in relation to his rivals, yesterday’s stage was one of the Dane’s worst performances at the Tour. The race for yellow already looks over, and now he also has to look back over his shoulder with concern. Too ugly to feel real – both him and, more broadly, his team, who sent Campenaerts up the road with no clear purpose whatsoever, though they are at least partly rescued by Kuss (7), who finishes not far behind his leader, and Piganzoli (6), who is dropped early but does not completely implode. Jorgenson (1), on the other hand, is simply alarming in free fall.
WHO SENT TIBERI TO THE TOUR 2 One question remains for me, and it was already being discussed this winter: if a rider needs to rebuild himself, why would you send him to the slaughter in the hardest race in the world?
POSITION ON THE BIKE RULE 1 Did Huub Artz really get a warning while he was in the break for a position the jury considered irregular? Please…
TEAM RADIO 0 Or 10. Wonderful as they are useless, but at least they fill the moment. The Decathlon one was illuminating: never lose sight of Pogi and Vingo if you stay with those two, you can’t go wrong and everything will be fine. The Bahrain one was more amusing: to test both the radio and Lenny Martinez’s reactions, they made up a Pogačar attack at kilometre zero. He would attack shortly after.