As Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar approached the finish on the Plateau du Mont-Cenis, high up in the Alps on the final stage of the Criterium du Dauphiné, something rare happened: Pogacar did not sprint for the line.
The stage victory had already been taken in some style by Bahrain Victorious’s Lenny Martinez, but by not even trying for second, Pogacar was sending a message to Vingegaard: that he had no need for second place; the Dauphiné had already been won, by 59 seconds, and he had barely broken a sweat.
Not content with simply beating Vingegaard, Pogacar wanted to land a psychological blow too. He was like a cat toying with its prey. Pogacar made it very clear from the beginning of the race that he saw the Dauphiné as preparation for the Tour de France, just another training block after a period at altitude. After victory on the seventh stage, between Grand-Aigueblanche and Valmeinier 1800, Pogacar beat Vingegaard by 14 seconds, despite slowing down. “It was a super hot and long climb,” he said. “Luckily, I had enough time to ease up in the last kilometres and recovered.”
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On the stage-four time-trial between Charmes-sur-Rhône and Saint-Péray, he appeared at times not to be gunning for victory, but experimenting. About halfway through the 17.4km route, he reached for his water and took a sip before replacing the bottle in its cage and riding on. Even in the heat, it is unusual to see a contender for victory breaking out of their aerodynamic position to drink during such a short time-trial, but it was an altogether bizarre stage from the Slovenian. He left the starting gates with little gusto, rode what appeared to be a lower cadence than usual, and rolled in 48 seconds behind the winner Remco Evenepoel and 28 seconds behind Vingegaard.
It seemed he was testing his pacing, perhaps exploring how fast he could go while riding within himself and practising taking a drink before the flat 33km time-trial in Caen on stage five of the Tour de France, where it is likely he will need to take on water. There appeared to be no doubt that he could take all that time back in the mountains.
As the riders reached stage six, Pogacar took aim at the final climb, to Combloux (2.7km at 8.2 per cent). The last time Vingegaard and Pogacar met here, it was stage 16 of the 2023 Tour de France. In a 22.4km time-trial, Vingegaard put 1min 38sec into Pogacar.
Pogacar leads Vingegaard and his Visma team-mates through the mountains on the way to winning the seventh stage of the Dauphiné
STEFANO CAVASINO/ALAMY
Last Friday, Pogacar didn’t even get out of the saddle when he attacked Vingegaard. The Dane could not respond. Pogacar had his revenge and finished 1min 1sec ahead of Vingegaard. At the conclusion, Vingegaard was panting, sweating, grimacing. Pogacar’s expression had barely changed. He looked as if he had a lot more to give. It was more than a win. It was a statement: that Pogacar could now beat Vingegaard anywhere and beat him with ease.
In the context of the Tour, this was an important statement to make. Stage 16 this year finishes on Mont Ventoux, where Vingegaard first dropped Pogacar in 2021; stage 12 concludes on the Hautacam, where Pogacar was beaten conclusively in 2022; and stage 18 returns to the Col de la Loze, the site of Pogacar’s most emphatic defeat as a professional, when he lost more than five minutes to Vingegaard. At each site, just as he did at Combloux, Pogacar will no doubt have further psychological torment planned.
Pogacar has developed a reputation for being affable even in the face of defeat. But at the Criterium du Dauphiné he showed his relentlessness: he is now willing to win with a smile, or without. The days of showing his fragility as he did on the Col de la Loze in 2023 — “I’m gone, I’m dead”, he said over the radio — are gone.
Vingegaard will be uninterested in Pogacar’s mind games. The stoic Dane didn’t win two Tours de France on luck. He seems content with his own path to form before the July 5 start in Lille, despite saying he needs to work on “a bit of everything” over the next three weeks. And it is not as if Pogacar’s favourite status was a surprise.
But as well as relying on his own form, Vingegaard has a team that is every bit as strong as Pogacar’s UAE Team Emirates XRG. Pogacar has many elite individuals at UAE, but the Dane’s Visma–Lease a Bike often ride better as a team. And at times during the Dauphiné, UAE appeared frustrated. So much so that Nils Politt, of UAE, and Per Strand Hagenes, of Visma, were both fined 500 Swiss francs and given yellow cards for coming to blows and getting their elbows out on stage two.
Pogacar stated after stage seven that he was unhappy with Visma’s attack on the descent of Col de la Croix de Fer, labelling it “a little bit dangerous”. The Dutch team are clearly getting under UAE’s skin. With the addition of Giro d’Italia winner Simon Yates and Wout van Aert for the Tour de France, Vingegaard will be content that he’ll have cards to play in the mountains. If Yates, for example, can stay high enough in the general classification into the final week, Pogacar will be forced to respond to the Briton as well as marking Vingegaard.
Easier said than done, perhaps. But the way Pogacar rode the Dauphiné, Vingegaard is unlikely to win this on legs alone. He’s going to have to gamble, and hope his and his team’s luck holds.