Tadej Pogacar stands firm as the overall leader of Tour de France after two weeks of racing, although some doubts have arised after the fourteenth stage. The Slovenian didn’t lose time, didn’t even seem out of control at any moment, but just the fact that he allowed Thymen Arensman cruise towards a victory while riding patiently in Jonas Vingegaard’s wheel. But it was enough to nurture speculations.
“People seemed to think he had an average or bad day because he didn’t win,” Philippa York returns to stage 14. “He had a lead of four minutes so he didn’t need to attack. He had ridden to his maximum the two previous stages and with the Alps still to come, saving energy might be a good idea, even for Pogacar.”
“It’s an intelligent approach to Grand Tour racing, where making friends and keeping them happy is also a vital tactic,” York points out a key aspect of why Pogacar didn’t gobble up stage 14 to complete a hattrick.
That way, he made sure that INEOS Grenadiers won’t hold any hard feelings towards the Slovenian and could indirectly help if needed. “The other teams need to get something out of the race too, Pogacar and UAE don’t need to anger everyone by winning everything everyday. Let the others race and if they survive to the end then sometimes that’s OK.”
The first two positions in GC seem relatively sorted out, but further down the standings after two weeks lies a lot of potential for exciting battles. Florian Lipowitz and Oscar Onley have pretty comfortable positions at the moment, but that could change in a blink of an eye.
“Oscar Onley looks good for a top five if he continues to perform,” York writes in her Cyclingnews blog, “but from current in fifth place Kevin Vauquelin to Ben Healy in tenth anything could happen.”
“One good day for Primoz Roglic and he can move up dramatically but the inverse is true as well. Felix Gall and Tobias Johannessen will be watching Carlos Rodriguez and Healy a bit more closely even though they are six minutes adrift of them on GC.”
That’s a part of race York really looks forward to: “The race within the race always throws up some peculiar tactics as Paris gets nearer.”