The Long Knives Come Out
Tadej Pogačar learned the difference between being a relatively unknown, as he was in 2020, to carrying the heavy mantle of Tour favorite, when his rivals, as previewed, got out their long knives and hacked his team to pieces on the 155-mile (249-k) Stage 7, that, notwithstanding the small mountains towards the end, was raced at over 28-mph (45.5K). “Every rider will want to be in the break today,” stated a racer and sure enough, the stage – again – blew out of the starting gates at over 55-kph, spurring on by attacks and counterattacks. Davide Ballerini, the Deceuninck-Quickstep strong man, churned on the front, joined by Jumbo-Visma’s Tony Martin, aka the Panzerwagon, in a sign that the two teams wanted war.
Martin was racing to set up Wout van Aert in a breakaway on a stage that was built for Classic’s riders as the Belgian and represented a last chance before the Alps for the ‘rouleurs’ (big gear, flatlander types) to gain time on the climbers. The peloton entered a roundabout at about km-40, exited even more strung out, van Aert started blasting, the Yellow Jersey Mathieu van der Poel joined in just as the race entered an exposed section complete with a strong sidewind. Well, Belgians and Dutchmen certainly know what to do in that sort of situation. The echelon was immediately formed, the race went into warp speed and the peloton into a long, single suffering line that cracked – and in the blink of an eye, 29-men went free. Behind, after a fatal moment of hesitation, Pogačar’s UAE team went to the front of the peloton and chased, but it was too late. The team would bury itself for the next 120-miles, never again to see the front of the race.
The sight of the Yellow Jersey on the attack like this in the Tour is a throwback to – I don’t know..the 1960’s? Gone, and not missed, are the days of suffocating control, of calculated-to- the-millimeter efforts. This revived spirit of open racing, of attacking at non-prescribed moments, is what is making such magnificent viewing pleasure for all of us. Cherish this time in cycling, it is indeed a special one.
Van der Poel and van Aert went blow for blow the entire day, aided of course by strongmen such as Tour of Flanders winner Kasper Asgreen, Vincenzo Nibali, the emerging Brent Van Moer (Notice how after Caleb Ewan’s demise the Lotto-Soudal team has been on the attack every day? Gotta love those Belgians, they race) and eventual race winner, the forgotten Slovenian, former World U-23 Road Champ Matej Mohorič of the Bahrain-Victorious Team.
When you’re hot, you’re hot. Mark Cavendish too snuck into the break, waited for the Green Jersey intermediate sprint, took it of course, and since there were 28 others with him, none of his sprinter rivals suffering back in the peloton got even a single point. Cav hung until the final mountains, backed off, and rode piano, piano on to the finish. Such a pro.
The big breakaway’s lead crested the seven-minute mark but eventually the time began to come down. Pogačar’s UAE team fell apart piece by piece and by the end the Tour champ had only Rafa Majka with him, the Pole looking quite destroyed at the finish. Still, with a little help from friends and spurred on by an attack by Richard Carapaz and the faltering of damaged Primoz Roglič and Geraint Thomas, the field closed to 5’15” by the end.
Mohorič confirmed his great promise with a powerful solo win, van der Poel defended his jersey by attacking, van Aert is now second on GC, 30” behind the Yellow and holding a handy 3’43” over Pogačar (in 5th) with Dane Kasper Asgreen in third. The race now enters the Alps and the answers to our questions over van Aert’s true climbing abilities, of whether van der Poel can hold on to Yellow for yet another day, and of how Pogačar will react to this setback, all await us on what promises to be another fine day in this Grand Cru Tour de France.