While the Uno-X Mobility camp popped the champagne Wednesday afternoon, the mood elsewhere was less celebratory. It is becoming apparent that it is not only fans at the roadside who are increasingly irked by the Pogacar and his team’s dominance. Following Sunday’s stage to Ussel won by Mathieu van der Poel, riders and team managers were at a loss to explain why UAE Team Emirates-XRG chased so closely behind the breakaway throughout a stage that had no bearing on the battle for the yellow jersey.
Frenchman Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost), who was in the four-man group that contested Sunday’s stage win, said: “I’m actually glad the breakaway made it to the finish, because I really didn’t understand why UAE was chasing.” His compatriot Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon CMA CGM) declared: “It was crazy all day long. UAE rode hard to keep the gap at a minute or a minute-forty… I didn’t quite understand why.”
Movistar’s sports director José Joaquín Rojas was of a similar mind, saying that: “ultimately, it spoils part of the spectacle when the result is already practically a foregone conclusion.” He added that his take on the “absurd” tactic was shared by “85 per cent of other sports directors”.
Speaking on Monday’s rest day in the Domestique Hotseat podcast, Danish rider Michael Valgren (EF Education-EasyPost) suggested that Pogacar’s dominance ultimately stemmed from a grudge against his long-time rival Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike). “He wants to put him in a coffin, at least mentally… I think they’re going to go all out and try to bury Jonas once more, to really cook him mentally,” Valgren said.
The Dane predicted, accurately as it turned out, that Pogacar would be determined to avenge his defeat by Vingegaard at Le Lioran in 2024. “It’s almost as if Pogacar is thinking: ‘This was the last time he beat me, but now I’m going to beat him even more emphatically.’”
There has been widespread criticism in the media too. After condemning the booing of Pogacar, Raymond Kerckhoffs of WielerFlits magazine lamented his team’s strategy, saying: “I find it incomprehensible that UAE Team Emirates-XRG isn’t giving the harmless early breakaway any breathing space in the transition stages.”
When fans reject dominance
This kind of antipathy towards the era’s all-conquering champion has been seen many times before. In 1930, Italy’s Alfredo Binda was paid by the organising newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport to miss his national tour after winning four of the five previous editions. In 1975, five-time Tour winner Eddy Merckx was punched in the kidneys by a fan as he neared the summit of the Puy de Dôme climb. Although the Belgian retained the yellow jersey that evening, he lost it the next day and never wore it again.