The route of the 2023 Tour de France turned out to be a bit atypical: already among the first six stages in the teams’ road book there were two mountainous ones, for which, thanks to the start of the race in the Basque Country, and two mountainous ones, but at the same time, among the last four, only one of the generals had a chance to arrange a showdown. However, this could not affect the fact that the fight for the yellow jersey (for leadership) would take place between the current Tour champion Jonas Vingegor and Tadei Pogacar, who won twice in a row before him.
The first real blow to the competitor was dealt by the Dane in the fifth stage, when he led his main opponent by 64 seconds, and in the general classification he began to lead him by just under a minute. The Slovenian was unable to fully respond, so he was forced to pick up the build-up gradually over the next few stages. On the one hand, it was sometimes possible to literally recover grains of time. On the other hand, the gap in the overall standings narrowed inexorably. As a result, after two weeks of racing, the athletes were separated by an instant by the standards of a three-week grand tour – 10 seconds.
Tour de France
Everyone knew that the uphill individual time trial on stage 16 after a rest day could turn into a showdown for the yellow jersey. Wingegor was simply excellent ahead of Pogacar, who took second place on the stage, by 1:38. It was a blow to the Slovenian’s prospects. And they finally knocked him out the next day, when he completely failed the stage, while the Dane was still good. The seven and a half minute delay was already, of course, irrecoverable. Moreover, at that time there were almost no difficult stages left.
Wingegaard made a serious bid for many years of Tour de France dominance, defeating the young genius Pogacar for the second time in a row, who will surely try to respond properly in the years to come. But this time he lost twice as much overall time as a year ago: 7:29 versus 3:34. By the way, in 2021, Tadej just confidently defeated Jonas (5:20), but now the picture has changed radically.
In addition to this couple, it is worth noting some more riders. Adam Yates, although he was the main assistant to the Pogacar team leader, did not forget about himself – he drove to the podium, taking the final third place in the overall standings, won the first stage, after which he carried the yellow jersey on his shoulders for another three days. Jesper Philipsen with four victories and the green jersey (points nomination) showed that despite his young age by cycling standards, 25 years old, he already claims the title of strongest sprinter in the world. Although the Belgian failed to win in the final stage on the Champs-Élysées: he was unexpectedly overtaken by his compatriot Jordi Meis.
Tour de France
The long-awaited award found one of the most important centenarians in the peloton: the French team Cofidis. Not only did he end the 15-year wait to win a stage, he did it twice. Until this year, by the way, he had a total of only two stages won in the Tour. If we talk about losers, Wout Van Art has more reason to complain about fortune. The Belgian has cracked the top three on stages four times, but never managed to win.
Not many riders have won the great Tour de France three or more times in a row: the Frenchmen Louis Bobet (1953-1955) and Jacques Anquetil (1961-1964), the inimitable Belgian Eddy Merckx (1969-1972), the powerful Spanish Miguel Indurain (1991-1995) and the British Chris Froome (2015-2017). Well, we mention Lance Armstrong, who dominated from 1999 to 2005, who was later stripped of all these titles for doping.
However, none of the aforementioned great champions managed to win their third “Great Loop” before the age of 26. The record still belongs to Merckx. But first, Pogacar won his second yellow jersey in 2021 at 22, and now Wingegor is pulling off a similar achievement at 26.
Next year, the Slovenian will have his last chance to become the youngest three-time winner of the world’s most important cycling race. It’s just that his battle with the Dane can become a real “Tour” classic and last for many years. After all, now it looks like Jonas has a great chance to become the most titled in the Big Loop, because he is already almost halfway to Indurain’s record five wins. But Tadey will definitely not agree to become a mere witness to the writing of golden letters on the pages of history by his competitor.
UAE-TeamEmirates
There is no doubt now: this incredible confrontation in the Tour de France will last for years and will undoubtedly excite the hearts of all cycling lovers.
