Winner of the 2020 Tour, Tadej Pogacar is on track to double the stake in Paris on July 18. Not without arousing some suspicion …
His show of strength at the Planche des Belles Filles last year made an impression. That day, in the final and decisive stopwatch of the Tour de France 2020, Tadej Pogacar flies over the stage and outclasses his opponents, starting with a Primoz Roglic then stripped of his yellow jersey and totally helpless in the face of the surge of his compatriot Slovenian. The performance is sizeable, surreal even, to the point of leaving the very members of the peloton in disbelief.
A year later, he did not wait for the epilogue of the Great Loop to reveal his game. Already at the helm of the Tour 2021 at the end of the first week of the race, Pogacar promises not to let go until the end of the race. Champs Elysees. An undivided domination which necessarily calls out in view of the history of the discipline. And from the boy’s entourage … ” The problem in this world is that yesterday’s cheaters have positions of responsibility in today’s cycling., underlines Philippe Brunel in an interview with Ouest France. Bjarne Riis, we dragged him until last year. He still cheated to win the Tour de France in 1996. He says he put the yellow jersey in a shoebox at the back of his garage. It’s so cynical, almost contemptuous of people who love the Tour. Mauro Gianetti is the boss of UAE, the Pogacar team. He almost died on the Tour de Romandie route in 1998 (after a transfusion of fresh frozen plasma, he remained in a coma for three days, editor’s note). Then was boss of Saunier-Duval with riders like Piepoli, Ricco, both kicked out of the Tour in 2008 for doping. And he’s still there, and it doesn’t bother anyone… It’s all extremely embarrassing. »
Three checks undergone on Sunday
The former newspaper reporter L’Equipe is not the only one to express suspicions about the meteoric rise of Pogacar. So the Slovenian rider, well aware of causing controversy – if not controversy – broached the subject on this Monday resting on the Tour. ” When someone doesn’t believe in me, I always try to prove they’re wrong. We have plenty of controls to prove skeptics wrong “, He breathes, assuring to have undergone no less than three checks during the only stage on Sunday,” two before departure and one after arrival in Tignes “. And to conclude: ” One of my biggest motivations was to show that last year was not an accident, based on a single time trial. This year I am motivated to prove myself and to prove to the world what I can do. »
