Winner of the first week of the Tour de France
Tadej Pogacar
Even in the first few days, Tadej Pogacar left no doubt about his dominance at the Tour de France. He shone on the cobblestones, took the yellow jersey one day later. After two stage wins, the 23-year-old narrowly missed out on his hat-trick in Lausanne. The competition can only hope that his team UAE Team Emirates weakens and Pogacar is vulnerable in the high mountains.
Wout van Aert
The entertainer of the first days of the Tour. Wout van Aert finished second three times and wore the yellow jersey. But without a stage win, the Belgian all-rounder from Jumbo-Visma dissatisfied. So he attacked on the fourth stage ten kilometres from the finish and rode away from the entire field. After his solo victory in Calais, van Aert also won in Lausanne.
Simon Geschke
The fact that the Berlin-born Cofidis He himself would hardly have thought it possible that at the age of 36 he would be able to climb onto the Tour podium once again. With a courageous performance on Sunday Geschke secured the necessary points for the mountain jersey. He had already caused a sensation in a Tour mountain stage in 2015 when he triumphed solo in Pra-Loup.
Losers of the first week of the Tour de France
Primoz Roglic
After two dramas in 2020 and 2021, everything was supposed to be better at this Tour. But Primoz Roglic underlined his reputation as a broken rider and crashed heavily on the fifth stage. Although he repaired his dislocated shoulder himself, he lost two minutes on the top riders and thus the Tour. In addition, the Slovenian publicly criticised by Maximilian Schachmann for his risky driving style.
Aleksandr Vlasov
Aleksandr Vlasov attracted attention with rare and very self-confident statements before the Tour de France. He wanted to try and win the race. After just nine stages, this is probably hopeless. A crash on the sixth stage weakened the Bora-Hansgrohe-captain, who lost over a minute and a half to Pogacar on the first uphill finish. Vlasov also lost further seconds on Sunday. The podium in Paris is becoming increasingly unlikely.
Mathieu van der Poel
The Dutch classics specialist from Team Alpecin-Deceuninck had set his sights high and wanted to ride at least one day in the yellow jersey.
But even in the actually strong opening time trial, van der Poel complained that he had bad legs. Over the course of the first week, his form tipped further and further south, and the 27-year-old played no part in the cobblestone stage. "I'm not myself right now. But I will fight," said van der Poel.
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