Cycling is a changing sport. One day you are up, at the top, smiling and uncorking champagne, and the next everything can go to waste, the race is against you and you are one trifle away from losing all chances of winning and a podium. Cycling is a sport of contrasts and abrupt variety. One day you run in Denmark and two later you are in France. It goes from touching the sea to touching the snow. It is usually shot on roads but suddenly the sand, dust, stones, potholes and holes of the mining roads of the north of France appear. It's those plot twists that make it so unpredictable. Unless you're Tadej Pogacar. The Slovenian has set out to dominate the Tour and cycling from pe to pa. The double champion was about to deal a masterstroke to the race in Arenberg, home of cobblestones and pavé.
The image of the Jumbo the day before, on the Côte de Cap Blanc, organized, pulling its leader, setting the pace, was seen again in the fifth stage. But this time it was not to win the stage and to break the peloton, quite the opposite. The Jumbo chased and chased. He was behind. He was trying to minimize damage. They ran like crazy to save the furniture.
All the power of the Dutch team in the fourth category port to prepare Van Aert's attack was minimized. The super squad was divided into two groups. Three on one side. Four for another. None in front. All against, suffering to stay alive in the race.
All the bad things that you try to avoid in pavé happened to Jumbo. Falls, punctures, breakdowns, nerves, constant bike changes and even lack of collaboration from other teams. That's the bad part. Everything turned upside down for them while, dressed in white, Pogacar looked like an elegant steed, overcoming all obstacles, coming out of hell unscathed.
The good news for the Dutch is that, within this chaos, they were able to control the situation halfway. Halfway because they came to the Tour with two tricks and one of their leaders, Vingegaard, the second of 2021, only gave 13 seconds. Halfway because the other leader, Roglic, the second of 2020, the winner of the last three laps, left more than two minutes. And it could have been worse.
Only the quality of their domestiques, of Wout van Aert in particular and of all of them in general, prevented a debacle. Van Aert is the leader but the yellow jersey worked tirelessly to get as close as possible to Vingegaard. He and all the favorites were lucky to have the Belgian. The Dane punctured before entering the Abscon stage, 35km away. And the Jumbo got mixed up. Laporte left him the bike but the difference in height was evident. Kruijswijk passed by there and he also lent him his tool. At that moment, the car arrived and he gave her a spare. With everything in place, they began to chase like crazy and overtake cyclists. First they contacted the Ineos group. Then they gobbled up Vlasov and Mas's mini-platoon. “Between our team and Jumbo we have closed the gap with many of the favourites, except for Pogacar, who we saw in the end. 13 seconds is little compared to what it could have been”, analyzed the Mallorcan from Movistar, who declared himself “very, very happy”, for the balance, since he did not fall.
While everyone seemed alienated, sweaty and dirty, Pogacar lived oblivious to that hell. He was so comfortable, levitating, floating on the stones, after preparing in Flanders, that he even allowed himself the luxury of leaving with Stuyven and giving relief to the giant of the Trek. Pogacar, who is supposed to be a climber, dreamed for a moment of catching up with the breakaways, fighting for the stage victory (it went to Clarke (Israel)) or coming out of the Arenberg pavé in yellow (Van Aert took it). In the end, it couldn't have been any of that and even so he came out very strong, like after the first time trial. “I was afraid of everything that hasn't happened to me since. It was a matter of survival. I have been able to gain time, although in the end it has not been much gain”, he confessed.
Roglic's misfortune was that he fell when Van Aert was already helping his other teammate and half the platoon. The Slovenian hurt his shoulder and Benoot and Van Hooydonck stayed with him to take him to the finish line. Between the pain and the fact that they did not have the same legs, the difference was gone after two minutes, a distance that does not rule him out but will force him to change his style. He was the great victim but it was worse for the Australians O'Connor (Ag2r), who lost one more minute, and Jack Haig (Bahrain), who had to leave.
