Bloods and Crips
We’ve been seeing pure, unadulterated gang warfare over the past two days. It was first the UAE on Friday’s stage to the Grand Colombier who took the front for the entire race in a show of machismo, proving that they were able to race like a Tour winning squad and able to soften up the competition for their leader Tadej Pogačar to attack - which he did but only to gain a handful of seconds on the Yellow Jersey. Turning the tactical tables, Jumbo-Visma rode like monsters yesterday, barely letting any daylight between themselves and what had all the makings of a successful breakaway.
Thibault Pino, Matteo Jorgensen, Neilsen Powless, Julian Alaphilippe, Michael Woods along with 15 powerful friends escaped, it all looked perfect, especially for Powless in his defense of the Polka Dot Jersey, but the relentless Jumbo-Visma pressure from behind never allowed them even a minute’s lead and we all knew they were doomed. The fugitives were caught at the base of the Category 1 Col de la Ramaz, 13.9-km long rising to 1612-meters, where the Yellow Jersey team really began to put on the pressure - they simply wanted to kill bike riders and Dylan Van Baarle was their assassin of choice. The Paris-Roubaix winner’s pace put Carlos Rodríguez, the 22-year-old Spaniard on Ineos, sitting in 4th, in trouble, eliminating his teammates Egan Bernal and Tom Pidcock. Marc Soler of UAE struggled too along with third placed Jai Hindley’s one remaining teammate, Emanuel Buchmann. Big and heavy classics man Wout van Aert took the points at the top of the climb showing the sheer power of the squad, their work having left Rodríguez isolated, his Ineos team melted away. A rival gang had been destroyed.
The dreaded Col de Joux Plane was the final battleground of the day, 11.7-km, 8.5% average gradient climbing up to 1690-meters, chock full of spectators primed and ready to witness what was certain to be an historic and vicious fight. Jumbo-Visma went flat out, only 16 riders made the cut, and the gang war was full on: four Jumbo-Visma versus four UAE. Everyone else was holding on for dear life. Wilco Kelderman, with his fast-pedaling beautiful style, ripped up the climb, Van Aert took over and turning the screws eliminating one UAE (Grossschartner) and David Gaudu before pulling over. Now, there have been questions on both days about why these team have ridden in this manner, why, yesterday in particular, were the Jumbo’s giving Pogačar an “armchair” ride up the mountain. The answer can be found in Wout van Aert. The big Belgian made his final effort on the climb, setting up Sepp Kuss to do his number for Vingegaard. At that moment, Pogačar’s UAE teammate, twice Polka Dot Jersey of the Tour Rafal Majka took command of the race instead, the first time of the entire day we’d seen a black and white jersey at the front. This somehow seemed to enrage Van Aert, the idea that someone had survived the beatings he’s been giving, so from the side of the road and almost at a standstill, he relaunched, made his way, somehow, back to the front of that group, and hit it again just to kill off Majka. It was a display of raw power, a visceral reaction, an instinctive and intimidating lashing out to prove physical dominance. There is no “armchair” ride up a mountain, everyone is suffering like dogs, the efforts accumulating over the three weeks of racing, and in a competition this close, in a Tour that is being compared to the famed Anquetil v Poulidor and LeMond v Fignon classics, every single body blow counts.
Nine-km to go to the top of the Joux Plane and only seven riders left in front: Vingegaard with Kuss, Pogačar with Yates, 4th placed Rodríguez showing brilliance, 3rd placed Jai Hindley and the improving Austrian Felix Gall. Sepp Kuss to the fore doing his bit as always, like Merry Clayton blowing out her lungs on Gimme Shelter. Hindley and Gall are dropped, and Adam Yates, not dead yet, takes over to drop Kuss and Rodríguez, setting up the move we’ve all been waiting for. Pogačar explodes up the mountain and opens a gap, but Vingegaard holds and slowly but surely closes. What a duel! Pogačar launches again and runs into the motorcycles in front, the photogs...well who really knows. The fans were wild, the racing insane, climbing speeds never seen; races are organized chaos, something happened, that’s all. But it stopped the Slovenian’s attack, he absorbed a body blow for no reason, and he and the Dane seemed to call a truce, riding side by side - exhausted both - to the top where Pogačar couldn’t respond in time to Vingegaard’s sprint for the all-important 0:08” bonus at the top.
Benefitting from all the madness in front was Carlos Rodríguez, who made his way past the flotilla of motos, jumping the two champions just after the top, descending within an inch of his life, literally, down the corkscrew road into Morzine, bringing Ineos their second win in a row. In this Tour of seconds, the young Spaniard moved into third overall by one-second over Australia’s Jai Hindley, and, after sprinting in ahead of Vingegaard, Pogačar lost one-second to the Dane who remains in Yellow by 0:10”. Rodríquez is 4’:43” down.
The news is that Rodríquez, who was discovered as a teenager by Ineos, carefully groomed and guided so well that he is now sitting third overall in his first Tour with a prestigious stage in the pocket, is going to Movistar. I don’t get it. He can be the leader of the Ineos juggernaut, he has a former World Champion and Tour winner at his disposal - how can he possibly find improvement elsewhere? Perhaps a Spanish Galleon full of gold had been laid at his feet. Which brings up yet another racing proverb: “If you want to make money, you won’t win races. If you win races, you’ll make money.” Let’s hope this brilliant talent has made a wise decision.