Stage 1, Wednesday 17, the Sondrio loop

🤣, day #1 and Pogatchar🇸🇮 takes the time bonuses at Intermediate Sprints and attacks with more than 70 km to go…

Oh dear, it was a butchery. All the favourites I had picked in my presentation are gone 😆

Beside (and far behind) the Slovenian mutant, only Carapaz (🇪🇨 EF) and Bagioli (🇮🇹 Lidl-Trek) produced rather impressive performances. The Italian would have closed the 1mn30 gap with the Ecuadorian who had gone away much earlier, if there hadn’t been that last short but very steep climb which allowed Carapaz🇪🇨 to gain again 15-20 seconds, enough to finish 2^nd^.

Coming back to my wonderful expertise:

Pogatchar (🇸🇮 UAE) continues his mission, coming on races he hasn’t already won to fix this mistake. There won’t be much competition for General Classification, as Pidcock cancelled his participation: L. Martinez (🇫🇷 Bahrain), M. Schmid (🇨🇭 Jayco), Roglitch (🇸🇮 Bora), and perhaps Riccitello (🇺🇸 Decathlon) or Tiberi (🇮🇹 Bahrain) if they finally feel better. We may get interested in what the 3^rd^ Bahrain rider, Eulalio🇵🇹, can do here after his great Tour of Italy.

• L. Martinez (🇫🇷 Bahrain) : +13 mn
• M. Schmid (🇨🇭 Jayco) : +13 mn
• Tiberi (🇮🇹 Bahrain) : +21 mn
• Eulalio (🇵🇹 Bahrain) : +24 mn

Only Roglitch (🇸🇮 Bora) and Riccitello (🇺🇸 Decathlon) didn’t do too bad, without doing particularly well either: in the second group at 4′30″ (the Slovenian a little bit behind, dropped in the finish). They can both aim for top-10 or even top-5.

Stage 2, Thursday 18, the Locarno loop

A pure punchers’ stage.

First, it was one of those ‘between two stools’ peloton chases we’ve witnessed this year. You’re never sure whether they want to catch the breakaway or not.

Then, UAE wanted Narvaez🇪🇨 to win. They had McNulty🇺🇸 pull for the whole first of the two twin climbs. But after half of the climb, or even sooner, the American wasn’t dropping anyone any more and he wasn’t closing the gap with breakaway any more, he was too slow, yet they kept him in first position. In the second climb, Narvaez🇪🇨 tried to go as planned, but he couldn’t. So Pogatchar🇸🇮 finally tried his luck, but despite the help of a surprisingly strong Vacek🇨🇿, it was too late, there wasn’t enough of the short climb left, nor enough of the last flat section, and they died just a few seconds behind the breakaway.

In the breakaway, Grégoire (🇫🇷 FDJ) was dropped in each climb, each time there was a strong acceleration by another rider; yet he managed to come back each time, and then he was the fastest in the sprint, as expected if he came to the line with those other guys.

Grégoire🇫🇷 is not (yet?) as good as Alaphilippe🇫🇷 was (by the way, he was today in the breakaway too but was definitely dropped in the first climb), but he ressembles him in how they both can go and remain a long while in a pain zone beyond their normal capabilities, when crunch time comes. One difference is that Alaphilippe🇫🇷 was using this ability to sustain his attacks, while Grégoire🇫🇷 is a very passive rider and mostly uses it to stay in or come back into his group.

Also, Grégoire🇫🇷 got a fine and a yellow card for getting help from his car while he was in a feeding zone. So, we have here another explanation for his coming back(s)… 😮‍💨

Stage 3

The sprinters’ stage, unless a few teams want to make their life hard in the first half of the stage. After all, this stage presents basically as much elevation as the first two stages.

And sprinters failed 😃

Another victory for UAE, through Narvaez who probably had to make up for his failure on Stage 2. Congratulations to Meurisse🇧🇪 who stayed with him and made a 2^nd^ place, just one wheel before the enraged peloton sprinters.

Stage 4 ITT

Van der Poel (🇳🇱 Alpecin) gave everything he had in the hot weather, and was winning until the last second of the race. The last rider of the day, informed of the times, beat him by… 0.04 second! Another victory for UAE, with of course the Yellow jersey bearer, Pogatchar🇸🇮.

Stage 5, Sunday 21, the Villars/Ollon circuit

A few women suffered from the heat on a shorter version of this stage, in the morning already…

Pogatchar (🇸🇮 UAE) waited for the last climb to attack. I thought he would have attacked in the last part of the previous one. In fact, it was a stupidly strong relay by a Decathlon domestique (Benoot🇧🇪?) who dropped his own leader Riccitello🇺🇸 and left only Carapaz (🇪🇨 EF) and the Slovenian. So, Pogatchar🇸🇮 saw that gap and accelerated, the Ecuadorian followed a little bit but was dropped after only a few hundred metres.

At the front of the breakaway, L. Martinez (🇫🇷 Bahrain) was giving everything he had, shaking everything for 4 miles, with a faraway look. He had a 2 minutes gap in his favour, he climbed faster than any other rider from the peloton not named Pogatchar, and yet he was caught and dropped like he was nothing. He was really distressed after the finish.

Like yesterday Van der Poel was completely empty when he arrived and it took him ages to recover. Meanwhile the Slovenian, after the line, looks like he is looking for a partner to play a couple of sets on a tennis court, before heading for the nearest dance hall. It is a big change with the Tour of Romandie, where he was paying for his efforts, like a human being. Anyway, 3 stage victories for him, and it would have been 4 if his team didn’t try to get Narvaz to win on stage #2.

Only 1 stage out of 5 (this stage #2), the Mountain and the Youth jerseys escaped UAE.

Looking to last stage, of course. And Pogačar’s win unless something extraordinary happens.