PFinally in France: After starting in Italy, the Tour has reached its natural terrain with a mountain stage in the Alps, something atypical for stage 4 of the race. The Galibier in the first stages and avoids the stupid day of rest required for the transfer of the runners, usual when a grand tour starts from another country. And win-winas they say now.
Winning after crowning the legendary Galibier was too juicy to pass up. UAE did not give the option of a breakaway for 17 runners who never gained more than three minutes of advantage. Already in the Galibier, Matxin’s men set an infernal pace until their leader attacked one kilometer from the top. Mas, Pidcock, Thomas, los Yates, Bernal… only four chosen ones kept up with the UAE. I insist, neither Pogacar’s attack nor the pace of Ayuso, Almeida and Adam Yates were supported more than by Roglic, Evenepoel, Carlos Rodríguez and, logically, Jonas Vingegaard.
Carlos Rodríguez confirms that he is one of the best climbers in world cycling and, of course, the best Spanish cyclist today. After his impressive performance last year, the young Spaniard has shown that It was no coincidence that INEOS has been making room for him as team leader. Holding on with the best until the end, Carlos Rodríguez makes it clear that his stage victory in 2023 and his performance last month in the Dauphiné are enough evidence to believe that he is one of the few that can be close to Pogacar and Vingegaard. The podium is possible.
Remco Evenepoel he gave in… but little. Very little. If he is better than Vingegaard and Pogacar against the clock (there are two and no shorts in this Tour) and gives battle in medium mountain stages where he has nothing to fear from the Slovenian duo, the Belgian can be, like Carlos, an alternative to the pairing . Be careful, both he and Carlos can look for interesting alliances. Watch out for Friday’s time trial… Be careful with this kid’s first Tour de France.
The thing about Enric Mas and Movistar has nowhere to go. Not on the least expected day nor on the most. Early high mountain stage to quickly realize that Enric Mas’ goal will once again be a Top something, never better than 5, in the Tour de France. Top 9, top 8, top 7… something that is so fashionable. You finish sixth and you say that you have made Top 6 of the Tour, as if Top 6 were some kind of measurement before finishing sixth.
