COPENHAGEN – It’s time for declarations of intentions and first appearances: two days before the big start of the Tour, the competition imagines having the skin of Pogacar, expected like a prince for the presentation of teams, Wednesday in the crowded Tivoli Gardens.
“We think we can beat him,” the other Slovenian Primoz Roglic posted on Wednesday. “We hope we can challenge (Tadej) Pogacar,” added local Jonas Vingegaard.
Jumbo is counting on its duettists, respectively second in the 2020 (Roglic) and 2021 (Vingegaard) editions, to dethrone the outgoing double winner who has never been so impressive.
In addition to stage races – victories in the Tour of the United Arab Emirates and Tirreno-Adriatico – “Pogi” also shone in the classics this year, crushing the Strade Bianche and signing two top 5 in monuments (5th in Milan-Sanremo then 4th in the Tour of Flanders).
However, he does not have the upper hand over his compatriot since the two Slovenians have never been at the same start, with the exception of the Primavera.
All dreams are still allowed before Friday and the beginning of this odyssey opening with an encounter with a mermaid. That of Andersen will measure the runners on the edge of the most technical part of the inaugural time trial (13.2 km).
Roglic and Vingegaard as leaders
To join Paris in yellow, Jumbo intends to play several cards. Like Sky after the great years of Chris Froome. When the British formation had delighted the Tour de France 2018, won by Geraint Thomas ahead of “Froomey” (3rd), then the Great Loop 2019, conquered by Egan Bernal, at the expense of Geraint Thomas (2nd).
“Everyone has to be at their best and we definitely need a two-man strategy,” said Jumbo Grischa Niermann’s sporting director.
It will be necessary to “survive the first week” first, repeated in turn Roglic and Vingegaard. The formula made Niermann raise eyebrows: “I don’t like the word ‘survive’, it sounds as if we weren’t sleeping all night because of this first week”, reframed the German.
The possible borders in Denmark then in France as well as the cobblestones of the fifth stage, between Lille and Arenberg, do not perhaps disturb the sleeps but make a lot of talk. “It will be every man for himself,” predicted Adam Yates, propelled comer of Ineos with the Colombian Daniel Martinez. “Adam and Dani are the leaders of the team and I want to help them,” said the winner of the 2018 Big Loop, Geraint Thomas, whose 36 years weigh, without preventing him from winning the Tour de Suisse less than two weeks earlier.
The threat of COVID before yellow fever
Will this surprise status survive the first week? In the meantime, dreams are allowed. Those of the Russian Aleksandr Vlasov too: “The race is long and if I play intelligently, I think I have a small chance”, affirms one of the men in form for the first part of the season.
Forced to retire when he was leader of the Tour de Suisse due to a positive test for COVID-19, the leader of Bora seems safe from a last-minute package in the midst of an upsurge in contamination in the pack.
“COVID is still around us,” commented Roglic, deprived for the start of the race of his other sporting director, Merijn Zeeman, infected. His rival Pogacar permanently lost the Italian Matteo Trentin, replaced at the last minute by Marc Hirschi. For a few more hours, the peloton holds its breath. Next up is yellow fever.
