There were people who had pitched their tents to sleep at the top of the Sanctuary of the Virgin of San Luca and to get the first place on the fence that protected the runners. You had to walk from the center of Bologna to the top in unbearable heat. There was a suspicion that this attempt, perhaps with a consensual escape, would not have been worthwhile..What a mistake and what a lack of faith, the one that drives the Tour and the one that always turns this race into a magical event. Tadej Pogacar attacks! Jonas Vingegaard replies! What more could they ask for?
There are two steps and two things have already been discovered. The one who Pogacar He is a non-conformist beast and a 21st century ‘cannibal’, no doubt about that. The other, however, is Jonas Vingegaard’s excellent form It was to be performed on asphalt that appeared to be melting from a righteous thermometer.
In Pantani land
It all started early in the morning inside a UAE bus parked in the Adriatic town of Cesenatico, where Marco Pantani was born. Everyone knew the rigours of the climb to the Sanctuary of the Virgin of San Luca because the opening time trial of the 2019 Giro, won by Primoz Roglic, was held there. It didn’t reach a 2-kilometre effort, but if someone tried to stray from their path you had to turn around and suffer.
Pogacar listened to his directors who recommended he attack. “We had to check whether Jonas arrived at the Tour in the right condition,” Pogacar’s Basque coach Jossian Fernandez, ‘Matxin’, told Rye. “The pace was fast and we had to try. Jonas reacted immediately. “It’s no surprise to me.” Pogacar, already wearing the yellow jersey, recognised him after coming off the podium.
The breakaway was ahead, from which the Frenchman Kevin Vauquelin emerged victorious. It seemed that the peloton of the distinguished people had already finished the stage and everyone would reach Bologna in peace. However, Wingard ran away with the fly behind his ear,
he was not on his side Wout van Aert suffered an injury and was running with pain in his legs. He did nothing but look for Pogacar. Ramps over 10 percent were an invitation to attack. Vingegaard knows his Slovenian opponent very well.
San Luca witnesses the first great duel between Pogacar and VingegaardSuddenly, as if a balloon had burst, as if a collective joy had taken over the streets of Bologna, an explosion of happiness, Pogacar attacked; the typical change of pace patented by the Slovenian phenomenon. Just as he did at the Giro.
But, oh lord, with one notable difference. There was a response that was not seen at the Italian round or any other race throughout the year.. And it was not like a spontaneous cyclist in his afternoon of glory. Pogacar turned slightly and saw only what he did not want to see; nothing less than a magnificent wingguard.
Pogacar and Vingegaard in action during the second stage of the Tour de France 2024 / EFE
In the second stage, with heat, with cold, with rain and even if by chance, with snow… The second stage presented a spectacle that only two cyclists were able to participate in, Vingegaard and Pogacar, who were left alone, taking charge, pedaling from one to the other, as if they were speaking from a group of speakers, from one winner to another.
There they both were; One to grab the yellow jersey almost by accident, and the other to earn endless praise and show he’s backThe Spartan preparations after the accident in Álava on April 4 and in Tignes in June were worth it – he had no problem with the descents, however – even if he was scared when he touched the pedals to the ground. , as much or more than putting a number for the competition.
Those 10 kilometers were a fantasy, a cartoon, a special effect, absolute ecstasy. Pogacar learned that there was someone who stood by him and that if he won the Tour he would have to work much harder than he did to win the Giro. Vingegaard verified that he was the same as before the collapse in the Basque Country and that, like in 2022 and 2023, in the two victories in Paris, he was not afraid of Pogacar, he could chase him to the fullest and who knows whether to finish him in the Alps or the Pyrenees. “This is a small victory for me, especially because I can announce that I’m back”celebrated the Danish sprinter.
As if that wasn’t enough, even though it became loose on the way up, Remco Evenepoel responded from afar, showing his tremendous stubbornness, launching himself downwards like a madman, always followed by Richard Carapazand trapped his opponents in the goal.
Girmay and Carapaz rule the Tour for the first timePrimoz Roglič didn’t even try and reached the finish line 21 seconds behind, in a group that included Spain’s Juan Ayuso, Pello Bilbao, Mikel Landa, Enric Mas and Carlos Rodriguez. Something far more beautiful than the marriage agreed upon in Bologna began to take shape, a joyous, celebratory and exciting tour.
