Copenhagen (AP) – Whipped up by several hundred thousand fans, Tadej Pogacar raced through the rain-soaked streets of Copenhagen and shocked the competition right at the start of the Tour de France.
In the demanding individual time trial, the 23-year-old distanced himself from his biggest competitor Primoz Roglic by nine seconds and was also a second faster than last year’s second Jonas Vingegaard.
Only the surprise Belgian winner Yves Lampaert and his second-placed compatriot Wout van Aert were faster than Pogacar. “My head explodes. I came expecting top ten and now I’ve beaten the best riders in the world. I’m just a farmer’s son from Belgium. I didn’t expect that,” said Lampaert, overwhelmed by his emotions and with tears in his eyes. The best German was Lennard Kämna in 19th place.
“The goal is the yellow jersey, but there is still time. It’s all close together, everyone is in good shape. I look at my performance and I think I’m in good shape,” said Pogacar, who admitted to being nervous before the start. At the finish, the dominator rolled the lactate out of his legs and had his usual grin on his face.
Kämna best German
The German time trial champion Kämna showed a strong performance and was a little annoyed at the finish for having been too cautious at the beginning. “That certainly cost me a few seconds,” said the 25-year-old, who was 25 seconds slower than Lampaert. “It was a solid time trial, I can be quite satisfied. The legs were quite good, but not outstanding.”
A good hour before the first starter, heavy rain began to fall in Denmark’s capital, much earlier than predicted. All the top drivers had decided to start early because of the weather – now the conditions were almost identical for everyone. The fans didn’t care much about the Nordic weather, they lined the entire 13.2-kilometer course and stood in several rows along the road.
The first sign was set by Roglic, who made a strong impression. His Jumbo Visma teammate Vingegaard was almost the same and the duo were already there when Pogacar rolled off the starting ramp. At first it looked like Pogacar wasn’t risking much due to the wet conditions. Meanwhile, the Tour winner of the past two years was five seconds behind his Slovenian compatriot Roglic.
But in the second part of the route, Pogacar turned things up a notch. In the end, the cycling prodigy was even faster than Italy’s world time trial champion and top favorite Filippo Ganna. Pogacar distanced the assembled competition for overall victory. Alexander Vlasov, captain of the German team Bora-hansgrohe, lost 24 seconds. “It’s just the first day. I didn’t risk much. I preferred to be a little slower than to crash,” said the Russian.
Europol confirms doping investigations
Meanwhile, the European police authority Europol confirmed doping investigations in the context of the Tour de France for the first time. A statement said that between June 27 and 30, 14 searches took place in six countries, three people were interrogated and various pieces of evidence were seized. Drivers’ and team members’ homes in Belgium, Spain, Croatia, Italy, Poland and Slovenia were searched. The Marseille Public Prosecutor’s Office was in charge. Although Europol did not name the Bahrain-Victorious team, the racing team itself confirmed searches on both Monday and Thursday.
According to the newspaper “Le Parisien”, which referred to the Marseille public prosecutor’s office, telephones, computers, storage media and prescription drugs were confiscated. The apartments of the Slovenian manager Milan Erzen, the Polish team doctor Piotr Kosielski and the French nurse Barnabé Moulin were searched. In addition, the Italian professional Damiano Caruso admitted to “Cyclingnews” that his house in Sicily had been searched.
