In the cycling-crazy Basque Country, the stage is set for the next duel between two stars "from another planet". Jonas Vingegaard versus Tadej Pogacar: when the 110th Tour de France gets underway in Bilbao on Saturday, everything will revolve around the duel between the two unequal exceptional riders.
Buchmann on Tour de France favourites
"If those two are there, then the first two places are already taken. They are on a completely different level to the others," said Emanuel Buchmann in an interview with the German Press Agency about the distribution of chances ahead of the Grand Depart.
Buchmann himself once had ambitions for the Tour podium in Paris; after all, the slender rider from the Allgäu made it to fourth place in 2019. However, since exceptional riders such as Pogacar, Vingegaard or world champion Remco Evenepoel from Belgium, who is missing from the Tour, have dominated the world's top riders, such goals have become utopian. Buchmann, who is leading the German mini squad in the champion's jersey, will be assisting his Australian captain Jai Hindley at Bora-Hansgrohe in France.
Tour de France favourite Pogacar dominates spring - and gets injured
Hindley, the 2022 Giro winner, should make it onto the podium, i.e. third place under normal circumstances. All experts agree that the battle for yellow is predetermined for Vingegaard and Pogacar. For Tour boss Christian Prudhomme, the duel already has similar potential to the duel between Jacques Anquetil and Raymond Poulidor or in tennis between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
Last year, Vingegaard had somewhat surprisingly dethroned his Slovenian rival thanks in part to his outstanding Jumbo-Visma team. Pogacar seemed to want to put that right this year. The Slovenian dominated the spring with twelve victories, inflicting a heavy defeat on Vingegaard at Paris-Nice - until he suffered a scaphoid fracture in a crash at the Liège-Bastogne-Liège classic. The 24-year-old didn't race for almost two months before returning to action at the weekend with two victories at the Slovenian championships. "You don't need a wrist to train your legs," joked Pogacar, who also said: "Jonas is the favourite, especially as he has been very strong recently. I'm coming off an injury. I have nothing to lose."
Vingegaard wins at Dauphine
Vingegaard had won the Tour de France dress rehearsal at the Criterium du Dauphine in June. He was only surprised by the big lead, said the 26-year-old, who demoralised the competition. The great Miguel Indurain, who won the Tour five times in a row and also rode in a league of his own in the 90s, attested to his solid build-up of form.
Team boss Ralph Denk from the German Bora-Hansgrohe racing team speaks of a two-tier society in cycling. "There are four, five, six riders who are a bit better than the others," Denk told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur. Vingegaard and Pogacar are "a bit from another planet", said the Bavarian, who is competing in the Tour with his team for the tenth time. "But it's three weeks of cycling. A lot can happen: Crashes, defects, a bad day, illness."
Above all, the risk of falling is a constant companion at the Tour. The recent death of Gino Mäder at the Tour de Suisse, when the Swiss rider fell into a ravine on a descent and died a day later, startled the peloton and reignited the safety debate. "The way I see it, relatively little has happened. It feels like we're still riding to the same standard as when I started my career. I tried to bring about a lot, but relatively little to nothing happened," criticised former time trial world champion Tony Martin, who has ended his career in 2021.
German cycling talent?
Riders like Martin are now missing from German cycling. Only seven German drivers left are at the start in Bilbao, the lowest number since 1999. "You have to say, if you look at the participants in the Tour - that's an indicator. Then the difficult times have already arrived," said Martin. Especially as the 37-year-old veteran Simon Geschke, who rode nine days in the mountain jersey last year, and John Degenkolb, who is three years younger, are two more guarantors of success on the home straight of their careers.
Before the time comes, the two veteran stars want to show off their skills once again on the 3399.5 kilometre journey from Bilbao to Paris. That won't be easy. With eight mountain stages, including four arrivals in the high mountains, climbing specialities are required. In other words, just the way Vingegaard and Pogacar like it.
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