Not Primoz Roglic, but Tadej Pogacar will probably win the Tour de France 2020. The barely 21-year-old Slovenian was unleashed in the time trial to La Planche des Belles Filles, took his third stage victory and drove his fellow countryman from Jumbo-Visma in a grandiose way. yellow. What a turnaround.
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Yellow sweater: Tadej Pogacar
Green sweater: Sam Bennett
Polka-dot sweater: Tadej Pogacar
White sweater: Tadej Pogacar
How did victory come about?
After Lotto Soudal rider and red lantern Roger Kluge opened the debates, Remi Cavagna (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) set the target time of the day on La Planche des Belles Filles. The French time trial champion was the first to finish a time under the hour with 57:54. Good for an average of over 37.5 km / h. Thomas De Gendt could never threaten Cavagna and finished in 1:00:06 while three others (De La Cruz, Schachmann and Kragh Andersen) went under the hour.
We had to wait for Wout van Aert. In his Belgian tricolor, Cavagna was 40 seconds short at the first intermediate point. Tom Dumoulin did better with a gap of 12 seconds. Van Aert was able to narrow his deficit to 33 seconds at the second intermediate point and at the last intermediate point, uphill, he was on the same level as the Frenchman. In the end, Van Aert was 28 seconds faster than Cavagna at the finish: 57:26 (37.8 km / h). Speaking of strong classification.
But Dumoulin also had a blessed day. The Dutchman was faster than anything and everyone at the start of the final climb, including 51 seconds faster than Van Aert. While our fellow countryman had changed bikes, Dumoulin did not. Which cost him some of his lead uphill. At the last intermediate point he had 27 seconds left, 10 seconds at the line.
But then Tadej Pogacar had yet to come …
What did the favorites do?
Tadej Pogacar started like a rocket in the time trial. At the first intermediate point, the Slovenian of UAE Team Emirates took a 13 second lead over yellow jersey and fellow countryman Primoz Roglic. Good for the third time in between at that time, a little later he rushed past number three in the position Miguel Angel Lopez as if it were not there. Pogacar nibbled little by little at his backlog (57 seconds) and at one point came to within 25 seconds in the general classification.
Both Slovenians changed bikes. At Pogacar it went a lot smoother than at Roglic, who also changed later on the climb. This resulted in Pogacar getting to 15 seconds. And with Roglic four kilometers from the finish line, the 21-year-old Slovenian had his compatriot. At the third intermediate point he put Dumoulin 48 seconds behind, which turned out to be a difference of no less than 1:21. Pogacar hit a double victory: stage victory and overall victory in the Tour de France at the age of 21. Roglic eventually lost 1:56 to his countryman.
????♂️???????? | The impossible has happened. Tadej Pogacar relegates everyone, including Primoz Roglic and wins the time trial and the Tour de France 2020.
Wow. Wow. Wow. # TdF2020 pic.twitter.com/qm1cqCc3bA
– Eurosport Netherlands (@Eurosport_NL) September 19, 2020
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Who else was in the spotlight?
Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) experienced a dragon from a Tour de France after a serious crash early on in the stage race. But the Frenchman persisted and was a local boy at the start of the time trial on Saturday. On the way he was cheered out loud by the many spectators. In the end Pinot was two seconds faster than Thomas De Gendt on the line.
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Anything else you should know?
Richard Carapaz took off for the final climb with one mission: to secure the polka dot jersey. The Giro winner of Team Ineos therefore started very slowly, only two riders cycled less quickly at the first two intermediate points. Carapaz put everything on his climb to La Planche des Belles Filles because the six fastest uphill got points for the mountains classification. But in the end it didn’t earn him anything because he took no points while Pogacar took the full booty. The Slovenian takes yellow, spheres and white.
However, the prize for the most combative rider of this Tour, the Super Combative, went to Marc Hirschi. The Swiss who won a stage and also finished in the top three twice.
Rash:
1. Tadej Pogacar (Sln/UAD) de 36.2km in 55:55 (gem. 38,84km/u)
2. Tom Dumoulin (Ned / TJV) at 01:21
3. Richie Porte (Aus / TFS) 01:21
4. Wout van Aert (Bel / TJV) 01:31
5. Primoz Roglic (Sln / TJV) 01:56
6. Rémi Cavagna (Fra / DQT) 01:59
7. Damiano Caruso (Ita / TBM) 02:29
8. David De La Cruz (Spa / UAD) 02:40
9. Enric Mas (Spa / MOV) 02:45
10. Rigoberto Uran (Col / EF1) 02:54
Stand:
1. Tadej Pogacar and 84:26:33
2. Primoz Roglic +0: 59
3. Richie Porte +3: 30
4. Mikel Landa +5: 58
5. Enric Mas +6: 07
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