Dominant Pogacar does not seem really happy on the way to fourth Tour victory: “Why am I here?”

In the land of Jean-Paul Sartre, one of the most famous supporters of existentialism, Tadej Pogacar asks himself after the miserable mountain stage to the Col de la Loze: “Why am I here (still)?”

The Slovenian world champion has just successfully declined all attacks in the leading position in the Tour de France in the rainy Alps. A fourth Tour victory is almost a fact. But afterwards Pogacar mainly confesses the kilometers to the finish line in Paris. “I can’t wait until all of this is over,” says Pogacar, “so that I can do other fun things in my life.”

Pogacar is not the first rider to start about his life outside the course. In their hunt for the big prizes, cyclists spend more and more time on training camps and altitages, far from home. Mathieu van der Poel described himself a year and a half ago as a cycling monk, who stays large parts of the year in Spain to be able to train well.

Trine Marie Hansen, the wife of Jonas Vingegaard, complained this tour about how much her husband should be away from home to appear at the start in his very best form. “If Jonas wants to charge himself, he should be at our home in Denmark,” Hansen told Danish Polish. “I fear that he will burn out his candle on both sides.”

However, Pogacar is not bothered by all training work or the many journeys; At least, you don’t hear him about that during the three Tour weeks. But really happy or enthusiastic, he does not show himself during this Tour de France. At Pogacar the problem lies elsewhere: he does not seem to like the most important cycling race in the world (anymore).

What is the case with Tadej Pogacar, who wins the Tour de France for the fourth time on Sunday?

Challenge oneself

In the run -up to the Tour de France, the day before the preparation race criterion du Dauphiné, Pogacar told journalists how he tries to ride other rates every year. Last year he did a double of the Giro d’Italia and the Tour (which he both won) in his career.

This year the Slovenian made his debut in Paris-Roubaix; The cobblestone race that has been avoided in recent decades by all classification riders because the risk of a fall on the northern French boulders is too great.

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But Pogacar likes to challenge itself, and wants to try to win the five biggest one -day races in cycling – the so -called monuments. He already won three, Paris-Roubaix (and Milan-Sanremo) not yet. In April Pogacar came very close, until he had to let go after a steering error Van der Poel; He became second.

“I just want to experience new things and not get bored. If I always did the same again, I would probably not last long,” Pogacar said those choices prior to the Dauphiné, after which he chuckled. “Unfortunately I am tied to the Tour every year.”

Irritated

The Tour starts this year with the Pogacar of previous years; He is fully involved in the ‘Punchy’ stages in the first week, accelerating against steep slopes. Pogacar loses a sprint from Van der Poel, also beats him once. He conquers the yellow sweater after the time trial in stage 5, but also loses him twice – to Van der Poel and the Irishman Ben Healy. Pogacar seems to give both.

During the week, Pogacar and his team UAE Team Emirates-XRG also show themselves irritated, especially about Visma-Lease A Bike, the team of his rival Vingegaard. The Dutch team wants to make the race as hard as possible, in an attempt to tire Pogacar. In the first hectic days they never give him and the rest of the peloton rest.

Pogacar is excited about that tactic. He calls the energy waste, says it is not understandable. He is also angry when Visma rider Matteo Jorgenson once cuts him if Pogacar wants to tackle a bottle. In the remainder of the Tour, the American will no longer receive compassion. Even if the difference between the riders has risen to more than half an hour, Pogacar responds to every Demarrage of Jorgenson.

Later in the Tour there is an incident when in a starting place VIF a follow-up car of Visma-Lab suddenly brakes and Pogacar almost pops up against it. It happens by accident, the podcast in De Waaier will later find out, but Pogacar suggests the cameras that it might be on purpose.

The venom is the sum of five years of tour battle, in which Pogacar and Vingegaard became first and second (or vice versa). This year the teams and their leaders seem to have ended up at the level that they don’t give each other anything anymore. “I am not here to make enemies,” says Pogacar halfway through the Tour. But: “It is the Tour de France, so you don’t just avoid each other either.”

Never a moment of rest

A day. The peloton has taken this tour so often, Pogacar sighs in the last weekend. His face sees gray after a long day in the rain. “We say every year that it is the toughest tour ever, but I think this edition is really on another level sit.”

The tactics of Visma-Lab to make the race as hard as possible, in combination with the dominance of riders such as Pogacar, Van der Poel and Vingegaard, have a huge impact on this year’s Tour. Riders who did not reason for the rankings or their leader will seize every opportunity to choose the attack; They see it as their only chance of success. The peloton will never get a rest for a moment. After twenty stages, this edition is on track to broadly break the record of fastest average ever, 42.1 kilometers per hour in 2022.

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In the general classification, the differences are therefore huge. Vingegaard ends in more than four minutes from Pogacar, the German Florian Lipowitz completes the stage for more than eleven minutes. Jordan Jegat, who stands tenth, has a backlog of more than 32 minutes.

Pogacar has also been demolished; You can see it in his way of races. His victory over the Hautacam, the pyrenee top where he was previously defeated by Vingegaard, is sweet revenge. But in the stages to Mont Ventoux and Col de la Loze, two more climbs on which Pogacar had to release in the past, he is not the first to cross the line.

“I would have liked to have won them,” Pogacar admits to the Col de la Loze after the Koninginnerit. “But it was more important to keep the yellow sweater.” His own fatigue forces Pogacar against his attacking nature to drive defensively.

Dominant

Pogacar himself reluctantly denies to drive around in France. “I am enjoying myself with the boys here. I am happy to be part of this team.” But, he also says, that is the only reason that he is having fun in the Tour. “If I have to come to the Tour every year, I will come for the boys and the atmosphere in the team. Nothing else.”

Pogacar is ambitious enough not to let its performance suffer. He is also dominant this Tour de France, wins four stages and the mountain jersey and he drives in yellow for fourteen days. He welcomes after the Queen’s ride in the Alps, after it is definitely clear that he is going to win the Tour again.

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Yet the difference with previous years is great. Two years ago, Pogacar (who then had to leave the yellow jersey) said to look at the following year during the closing press conference of the Tour. “I only got hungry,” were his closing words at Voszenberg Le Markstein.

Next year, the still 26-year-old Pogacar with a new Tour victory can match the greatest Rononderers in history; Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain each won the yellow jersey five times. But if this tour is asked about his future plans, Pogacar says: “We’re going to see it. Other riders are already making vacation plans for after the Tour, but I am not working on it. I don’t know what I’m going to do yet.”

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