You thought you knew Tadej Pogačar, huh. You thought he’d be on the attack in the opening stages of the Tour de France, keen to take time on the Classics-like terrain. You expected him to attack on the third-last climb on stage two, 10km from the finish in Boulogne-sur-Mer.
But this is a different Pogačar. Patient, more reserved, less eager. Playing a longer game. He’s still gaining time – 39 seconds over Remco Evenepoel on stage one, and two extra bonus seconds over Jonas Vingegaard on stage two after he finished second behind winner Mathieu van der Poel – but UAE Team Emirates-XRG are preaching a game of perseverance and caution.
In the final kilometres of the second stage, it was Vingegaard and Evenepoel who went on the attack, with Pogačar happy to sit in the wheels and follow.
Such tactics are unlike Pogačar – he was into pink on stage two of the 2024 Giro d’Italia, and into yellow after stage four of last year’s Tour – but this is his approach this time around.
“The plan was to create a smaller selection of riders and if we could fight for the stage, well we’d fight for the stage, but it wasn’t the idea in the second stage to attack 80km before the finish line,” UAE’s sports manager Matxin Fernández told Cycling Weekly afterwards.
“Those stages come later on, not in the second stage. We have to be prudent, we have to respect our rivals, and we know that there are big rivals and the direct rival is Vingegaard who has won two Tours de France.”
Referencing the strong wind and heavy rain that has plagued the Grand Départ in the north of France and is set to continue on stage three, Fernández continued: “The risk continues, the danger continues, and we have to continue with the same idea of not taking many risks. It’s too soon to take on the responsibility of trying to protect Tadej [in yellow].”
This is not to say that Pogačar is not looking to get into the maillot jaune as soon as possible, it’s more that he’s not going to go on the offensive as he has previously done until the arrival of the big mountains.
