Much of the talk ahead of Saturday’s opening stage of the Tour de France centred on two-time winner Tadej Pogačar, his UAE Team Emirates team, and whether they would seek to test – or even deal the first blow against – primary yellow jersey rival Jonas Vingegaard.
Come the day, there wouldn’t be any major GC moves on stage 1, and certainly no sign of Pogačar putting major time into the reigning champion, who was in the peloton for the first time since his season-threatening Itzulia Basque Country crash.
UAE did push the pace over the Apennine hills that filled out the middle of the 206km stage across Italy, however, blowing the peloton apart and dropping sprinter after sprinter before Visma-Lease A Bike took over to lead what would ultimately be an unsuccessful pursuit of the winning breakaway.
Speaking after the stage finish in Rimini, Pogačar said that he and his team “tested the legs a little bit”, while adding that he “wasn’t so lucky” in the final as he sprinted home for fourth place behind DSM pair Romain Bardet and Frank van den Broek, as well as third-placed Wout van Aert.
“First day was super good. We tested the legs a little bit on the climbs,” Pogačar said. “It was a good pace and I felt good even with the heat so that’s a big bonus.
“In the end, I tried to do a sprint also. I saw an opening; I almost beat the two fastest guys in the race – Mads Pedersen and Wout – but I wasn’t so lucky in the final. Also, chapeau to the winners today, Bardet and Van den Broek, they went a really good pace and deserved the victory, I think.”
Pogačar said that was sure that his chase group, led by Lidl-Trek on the flat run to Rimini, would catch the DSM pair before the finish. But they’d hang on, even after passing the flamme rouge with just 10 seconds in hand, to deny Van Aert and Pogačar the chance to sprint for the yellow jersey.
“I was thinking at 4km to go that they had 25 seconds if I’m not wrong and I thought we were going to catch them,” Pogačar said. “That’s why I tried to sprint because if I can get a podium I can get bonus seconds. But also, I really like reduced bunch sprints, so it was, all-in-all, an interesting day.”
Now, the focus turns to stage 2 and another hilly day in Italy. Sunday takes the peloton north to Bologna and two ascents of the steep San Luca climb, a centrepiece of the Giro dell’Emilia.
Even with the second of the climbs peaking 13km from the finish line, it’ll host perhaps the first GC showdown of the 2024 Tour.
“Tomorrow is San Luca and I think it will already be more open and more fights on the climb than today,” Pogačar predicted. “Also, on the climb, I think we’ll see more gaps than today.”
