Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) was not capable of get away from Jonas Vingegaard along with his anticipated assault on the San Luca climb throughout stage 2 of the Tour de France and was additionally later caught by Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), however that solely made it extra disappointing for the bunch of riders who shed time.
They weren’t blown away by Pogačar but it surely was the beginning of the sluggish drip lack of treasured seconds. The very prime of the GC standings is already beginning to develop into clear after two days of racing and it is going to be arduous to drag again the time misplaced on Sunday excessive of San Luca and on the quick descent to the centre of Bologna.
Pogačar and Evenepoel rapidly headed to the rostrum to gather the yellow and white jersey, whereas Vingegaard dashed to the protection of his Visma-Lease A Bike bus to keep away from the risks of the large crowds which can be allowed to wander across the space as riders are available. Pogačar once more leads the Tour de France however Evenepoel, Vingegaard and Carapaz are all on the identical time as him, their GC positions determined by their stage outcomes throughout the opening weekend.
Other riders got here in behind them, took a drink from their soigneur and disappointedly headed to their buses, fatigued by the 199.2km of arduous racing within the warmth and mulling over the implications of seconds misplaced.
Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) was the one one of many ‘Big 4’ GC contenders to lose time, ending in a bunch of GC hopefuls 21 seconds down on Pogačar, Vingegaard, Evenepoel and Carapaz. He mumbled just a few phrases of disappointment in Slovenian earlier than heading to his staff bus to mirror on what it meant.
Jai Hindley completed along with his new teammate Roglič, as did Aleksandr Vlasov, however neither had been capable of scale back the hole beneath 21 seconds. In Roglič’s absence, it was as much as Hindley to elucidate Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe’s day
“I believe Roglič was nonetheless fairly good,” stated Hindley. “Obviously, circumstances are actually difficult. I’m glad me and Aleksandr Vlasov had been there to assist him on the end.”
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“It’s nonetheless fairly early to say what is going to occur. Everyone’s combating for the race with UAE once more however we’re solely two days in. There hasn’t been a lot racing but however I believe it has been fairly thrilling.”
Counting on consistency
Stage 1 winner Romain Bardet (dsm firmenich-PostNL) was saying goodbye to greater than seconds. The rider was unhappy and emotional in Bologna as he realised his spell within the yellow jersey was over after simply 24 hours. He is now fifth at six seconds again.
The Ineos Grenadiers trio of Tom Pidcock, Carlos Rodriguez and Egan Bernal all completed within the GC chase group and stay within the total battle, with out understanding who will finally be the staff chief and who the loyal domestiques. Geraint Thomas (G) already seems to be to be out of the image after he was dropped early on the ultimate climb of San Luca and misplaced 6:45.
“Not precisely how we hoped, but it surely was injury limitation in the long run,” Pidcock stated.
“There’s going to be minutes in three weeks time, 21 seconds does not imply something. I imply, I needed to be there within the entrance, but it surely wasn’t a perfect run as much as the Tour. At least I may very well be there a bit on the finish for them and so it is alright.”
Ineos Grenadiers directeur sportif Zak Dempster, naturally, tried to see it as glass half full.
“I believe 21 seconds at this stage is not too dangerous. Obviously we might have hoped to have somebody up there, however on the identical time, I believe they managed it decently,” he stated.
“If you are speaking about Carlos and Egan, our protected GC guys, an explosive climb like that’s robust. We know what Pogačar is able to in Flanders and Vingegaard’s a beast too, on the explosivity.
Ultimately, Dempster stated that whereas that period of time may very well be a giant deal in some circumstances, you could not learn an excessive amount of into it.
“The primary factor is consistency. The consistency is what counts in the long run,” stated Dempster. “Obviously you must benefit from the large moments, however for us as a staff I believe we simply should take confidence and get again at it daily.
“G did not have a fantastic day. But we simply needed to see the place he was at, and he wasn’t a protected GC chief, so nothing modifications for us. There’s loads of guys nonetheless shut on GC. Chaos might ensue and also you by no means know what is going to occur.”
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