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The unfettered rivalry between Vingegaard and Pogacar will continue with the opening stage of the Paris-Nice on Monday morning (AEDT), as the respective winners of the previous two editions of Tour de France are once again expected to battle it out for the top honours in the race’s general classification.
Danish climber Vingegaard got the better of the two-time defending champion at the Tour last year after Team Jumbo-Visma attacked then-race leader Pogacar in the Alps, which allowed Vingegaard to wrestle back serious time off his rival.
The 26-year-old crucially won stages 11 and 18, eventually finishing 2’43” ahead of the Slovenian in the GC standings as well as taking out the victory in the mountains classification.
SBS Sport’s Matthew Keenan and Dave McKenzie noted that the finish to last year’s Tour could have major implications on how the rivals will approach the upcoming week-long stage race.
“It’s more massive, I believe, for Pogacar,” McKenzie said.
“He sort of had to go with his tale between his legs at the Tour last year.
“Yeah, he said he was happy with second place, but he wants to strike the first blow to Vingegaard rather than the other way around. Vingegaard has got the upper hand based off last year - the Pog needs to show himself here.”
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Keenan asserted that the 2022 Le Tour winner is likely to take out the overall victory in the race, noting the lengthy 32.2km time-trial on stage three as where the battle could potentially be won and lost.
“I think that Jonas is going to win this race overall because of the team time trial,” he said.
“I think he’s going to take enough time there to get his nose in front, and then Pogacar will throw everything at him to try and get that time back.
“But they will come out even in the mental game if Pogacar can win the penultimate stage that has that mountain top finish and is just behind Jonas in the GC. If the only time lost is in the team time-trial, he will settle for that.
“I think that stage is going to be really interesting for the overall battle, and let’s see how those two go head-to-head.
The commentators also discussed the possibility of a race winner outside of the Vingegaard and Pogacar battle, with McKenzie noting how the supposed focus of the two riders on each other at last year’s Criterium du Dauphine allowed the likes of Australians Ben O’Connor (AG2R Citroën Team) and Jack Haig (Bahrain-Victorious) to finish close behind race winner Roglic and Vingegaard in third and fifth, respectively.
“[Let’s see] whether they get so focused on each other that somebody else can sneak under the radar and slide away,” Keenan said.
“We’ve seen it before at Paris-Nice, haven’t we? I think at the Criterium du Dauphine, I know a different race, but same thing – one week stage race,” McKenzie added.
“If you’re right, which I think you are about the team time-trail, Jumbo-Visma certainly have the upper hand. Let’s hope so, because the Pog will just come out firing the following day and the day after that to try and peg back some time.”
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