The Geriatrics Still Have Their Place

There’s been such a youth focus in the pro peloton of late, justified by the arrivals of such prodigies as Tadej Pogačar, Egan Bernal, and Remco Evenepoel just to name the top ones, the mania extending to putting 18-year-olds in Grand Tours and prematurely ending the careers of older yet still performant racers. The victories in this past, most difficult week across the Massif Central, races that required deep endurance and the ability to truly suffer, were won - not the sprint stages obviously - by men in their 30’s: Michal Kwiaktowski (33), Ion Izagirre (33), Pello Bibao (34) and Michael Woods (36). Each won in solitary splendor, taking perfect advantage of their accumulated experience and depth of foundation to show the young un’s how it’s done. Perhaps the team directors will now take a more balanced view of their recruitment strategies and the crash-prone young riders develop a bit more respect for the riders who’ve survived in the pros and know how to do it.

Michal Kwiaktowski was warmly gracious in his post-race interview, thanking his fellow breakaway companions for having worked to hard together, complementing their collective desire to, against almost every prognosis of the stage (again!), hold off the charging peloton on the 17.7-km slopes of the Grand Colombier. No one thought that a break would make it yet, in this fiercely combative Tour, those racers believed in their chances and raced with all their hearts. “Kwia” also spoke of the incredible energy given him by that surging mass of spectators. He said, “I had the best legs of my career”, after having had “the worst legs” the day before, a sign of maturity, of the knowledge that things will always turn around. The Pole, who has been World Champion, twice winner of both the Amstel Gold Race and Strade Bianche, not to mention a Milano Sanremo, has been in a support role for his Ineos team for some time now; the kids he’s been mentoring must now regard him with an even deeper level of respect.

UAE raced yesterday as though Tadej Pogačar was in Yellow and not Jonas Vingagaard. The team buried themselves on the front the entire day, keeping the break in check and setting their leader up for the final climb. Why? Some say they feel that Yellow is inevitable for them so why not act like it. Others, that the team wanted to launch Pogačar much earlier on the Colombier but that in the end, neither the team nor their leader quite have the legs for a long move, so they had to be content with ‘Tornado Tadej’ to do his number and grab some seconds at the end. Whatever the reason, Pogačar reduced his deficit on Vingegaard from 17” to 9” with his last-minute surge setting up even greater drama for this Alpine weekend. The Dane has said this entire Tour that he has been waiting for the Alps, mountains that he loves and that suit his racing style. Pogačar has been grabbing seconds here, seconds there for two weeks. Will this game of millimeters continue bringing it all down to the last time trial? Does Pogačar truly have the third-week depth that he needs after his accident and is his team less powerful than Vingegaard’s? We’ll all have answers by Sunday night after what is certain to be a most spectacular weekend of racing.