At the Mende aerodrome, the scene of epic stages of the Tour, Tadej Pogacar again forced the leader of the 2022 Tour de France, but without the slightest practical result. The differences between the two great favorites have remained intact since the historic day at Col del Granon. The Dane from the Jumbo retains 2 minutes and 22 seconds over the Slovenian from the UAE Emirates, who will have to keep attacking if he wants to regain control.
The day was a new demonstration of the toughness of a Tour. This time it was neither the Alps, already overcome, nor the Pyrenees, ever closer. This time it was time to travel through the Lozère area, where there are hardly any straights or flats, where runners roam between 800 and 1,000 meters of altitude all day long. And it was another punishment.
Almost 200 kilometers at high temperatures and a cumulative drop of 3,441 meters through the Massif Central that left Vingegaard alone against his rival on the dreaded ramps of the Subida Laurent Jalabert, named in honor of the Once exhibition directed by Manolo Saiz and especially of the French cyclist, heroic in the 1995 Tour.
It was on that occasion, with a deployment of forces also led by Melcior Mauri and Neil Stephens, one of those days that remain marked, possibly the most complicated day for Miguel Indurain in his five victorious years. Jalabert conquered the first final in Mende and left an enduring mark that Saiz himself recalled yesterday on social networks when he saw that one of his last active pupils, Luis León Sánchez, was part of the day's breakaway. "Come on! Do it for history!", The Cantabrian director emotionally demanded.
The Murcian could not win and the last Spanish victory, which was precisely in Mende, is still that of Omar Fraile in the 2018 Tour, that of the already distant victory of Geraint Thomas.
Pogacar stiffened the pace and the two capos were left alone. But Vingegaard did not give in. Not a millimeter. The face to face between the two continues. Everything indicates that we will have to wait for the Pyrenees, in the last week of the 2022 Tour, to try a change of scenery. In Mende, Pogacar pushed again, but Vingegaard stuck to the wheel like glue, without the slightest sign of drowning.
