Dressed in yellow again after two years, but more than the suit to wear, today for Tadej Pogacar it is facts and thoughts that count. Rediscoveries and certainties. The Slovenian, new leader of the general classification at the end of the second stage Rimini-Bologna, had empirical confirmation of the form of his eternal enemy Jonas Vingegaard. The two-time Danish champion in charge could growl behind him until the last lap of the carousel: Jonas is recovering from a very serious injury, a disastrous fall on April 4 in the Basque Country, but he is so well that he was able to respond to Tadej’s razor-sharp attack on the San Luca with his usual naturalness. And this is exactly where Pogi must start: “We could have aimed for the stage, but then we decided to stay calmer – said the Slovenian at the end -. I made a small attack at the top of the last climb, partly to test myself but also to test the others. Jonas has always been on my wheel, you can see he is in great shape, so it will be an interesting Tour. Of course, I would have preferred to go alone…”.
Among other things, after the finish line, captured by the official cameras, Tadej confided to an excellent Remco Evenepoel that he had even taken a short break before the last sprint between superstars in order not to take the leader’s jersey already today: evidently, it was not yet the right time with such a negligible advantage. Despite everything, Tadej is first anyway. “It was still a good stage and a good opportunity: I’m happy to have blown up the race a bit, but Vingegaard proved that he goes as fast as me: he didn’t surprise me. And it didn’t surprise me that Carapaz and Evenepoel also arrived in the end. It’s always nice to get back to having the yellow jersey that I wasn’t able to wear last year, even if I came close several times…”.
FRANCE AGAIN
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In the meantime, the French continue to pull the “Italian” Giro from their side of the Alps: even the second stage winner comes from France and never mind if Romain Bardet is no longer up there. The hero of the day is Kevin Vauquelin (Arkea), a 23-year-old Norman working hard to become great, he made it on his first participation in the Tour: “It’s fantastic, also for the team. It is our team’s first victory at the Tour (11 participations, ed.). And to think that yesterday I was in pieces, while today everything went perfectly.” And then congratulations to his teammate and breakaway, who was decisive for this historic result: “Cristian Rodríguez did an excellent job, I felt that I still had a lot to do. When I finally went on the run with Jonas Abrahamsen and Nelson Oliveira, I knew it was the right time…”
