Comparing this to the Giro d’Italia from earlier in the year, Moser is in no doubt. Despite the lesser star power with Pogacar and Vingegaard absent, the actual fight for victory was a far more entertaining one as Yates, Del Toro, and Richard Carapaz went toe-to-toe all the way to Rome. “I enjoyed the Giro d’Italia much more because, in a Grand Tour, the GC battle has to be front and centre,” he explains. “If you’re asking me, I’ll always say that in a three-week race, I want to see a proper fight for the overall. So for me, the Giro was far better than the Tour, which simply didn’t have that battle.”
“I said it was one of the worst Tours in recent years, and I’d say about 80% of people agreed with me,” Moser continues. “I got so many messages I still haven’t read them all. Of course, some people disagreed. But let’s be clear: I didn’t say cycling is rubbish — I said this Tour didn’t do it for me. It’s like saying Nolan’s latest film isn’t as good as his previous one — that doesn’t mean I hate cinema.”
“I couldn’t care less about saying everything’s amazing just because it’s expected. I’d never listen to someone in my position who always has to say everything’s wonderful. Because then, when something truly is wonderful, it loses its meaning,” the Italian adds. “I did enjoy many of the stages in this Tour — as day races — but beyond that? Not so much. And this isn’t even a structural criticism of cycling — it’s just that right now Pogacar is too strong for any real contest. That’s not his fault, nor the fault of those chasing him. Even Team Visma | Lease a Bike were unfairly criticised.”
And that last point isn’t something Moser agrees with as he defends Visma. “Everyone has their own view, but in my opinion, nothing would have changed even if Visma had raced differently. In the end, they did what they could,” he analyses. “They tried to wear him (Pogacar ed.) down — and they succeeded. It’s just that in trying to crack him, they broke themselves too. I really respected that effort. And I got a lot of flak on social media for saying so. On the day of Mont Ventoux, I said, ‘For me, today’s winner was Visma.’ Because the plan worked. If Pogacar had been having an off day, they would have dropped him. But he wasn’t — in fact, he gained another two seconds. And then came the flood of insults.”
Vingegaard couldn’t quite manage to crack Pogacar
“If we look at the season as a whole, we’re far better off with Pogacar in it”
“People pointed out that Pogacar still set the fastest ascent time. Fine — but he spent the whole time on Vingegaard’s wheel. To me, that record belongs to the Dane, in a sense. He didn’t take a single turn in the wind. When he tried to attack, Jonas shut him down immediately,” Moser notes. “If a week earlier he’d taken two minutes out of him and now couldn’t shake him… something had changed. Who closed the gap? Did Vingegaard improve, or did Pogacar dip?”
Ultimately though, Moser admits that as long as Pogacar shows up at the Tour de France, the racing is unlikely to change. “We’ve got an athlete — Pogacar — who is better than everyone else (at least most of the time; think about the classics). But it hasn’t always been this way. This kind of solo dominance is unprecedented in recent history. Trying to change things now might be pointless if, post-Pogacar, everything shifts again,” he concludes. “What I’m saying is: drawing conclusions during an unstable era is risky. But let me be clear — I’m firmly in the ‘better to have Pogacar than not’ camp. This Tour turned out the way it did, but if we look at the season as a whole, we’re far better off with Pogacar in it.”