The young up-and-coming generation makes cycling interesting, Svorada appreciates
FAVORITE. The winner of the 109th edition of the Tour de France was Jonas Vingegaard from Denmark, who beat Tadej Pogačar, the champion of the previous two editions, from Slovenia, by two minutes and 43 seconds. Which of them did Svorada support? “I don’t have a favorite, I’m happy if it’s exciting until the end, which it was. Vingegaard finished second last year and it could be assumed that he would be one of the main favorites, moreover, he was in a stronger team than Pogačar on paper,” said the fifty-three-year-old former professional.
THE STRENGTH OF TEAMS. Vingegaard had a strong Jumbo-Visma line-up on hand, while Pogačar’s SAE Team Emirates was down four men for the Tour. “I think that on the main day, when Pogačar lost more time, he played a big role. The Jumbo-Visma riders took turns on it one by one, it was a team effort and he had nothing else to do but cover the starts. That’s the advantage of having an iron in the fire, but I wouldn’t say it was all in one day. Pogačar tried but it still didn’t work, Vingegaard was definitely more clear, especially in the last week he broke it and then once again in the time trial. In the end, he had the upper hand and it wasn’t for a moment,” Svorada described.
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YOUTH FORWARD. The Tour de France once again offered an attractive spectacle not only thanks to the battle of the two best cyclists. “I already said once that the young up-and-coming generation is not afraid of it, it makes cycling interesting, they get on, they try to escape, even if they don’t succeed. Be it the case of those guys who have the chance to win the Tour like Vingegaard and Pogačar, but also Egan Bernal, Richard Carapaz, Mathieu van der Poel, Remco Evenepoel or Wout van Aert. Everyone makes racing interesting,” he said.
ALIEN. Wout van Aert from Belgium was labeled an alien by commentators on live broadcasts. The winner of the green jersey in the points competition at the Tour showed that he can sprint, ride up hills and master the time trial. Can you win the three-week stage? “Van Aert improves every year and continues to surprise me, but three weeks away from the yellow dress is something else. Hills are key, and his physical constitution is not adapted to this type of performance, it would probably be extremely difficult to transform into a mountaineer, he would lose something of his speed. I think that’s his domain and I should use it,” mentioned Svorada.
THIRD BEHIND. British cyclist Geraint Thomas from the Ineos Grenadiers stable took third place at the Tour de France and proved that the former winner of the Old Lady is still to be reckoned with. “He showed a very high standard. The younger guys may have momentum that he hasn’t lost, but that doesn’t mean he can’t win. We’ve seen that in three weeks anything can happen in the Tour, one of the favorites can have a bad day, have a technical problem or crash and lose time that they won’t be able to make up. If Geraint Thomas were in a little better shape, he can easily attack in the first place. Ineos is traditionally a very strong team, it can have high-level support from them. Of course, the question is how it can be put together, but if Egan Bernal is put together in the future, he can also play an important role in the team,” said the participant of three Olympics.
ABOUT THE STAGES. This year’s Tour de France offered stage championships mainly for climbers, but sprinters also enjoyed their glory. “There weren’t many sprints at the Tour, only four, but at least the next two stages were let by the sprinters, whether van Aert’s start in the first week when he arrived alone, otherwise it was a sprint stage, just like the one won by Laporte last week . Those were sprint finishes, they just used the moment of surprise. In addition, the next one or two stages were more difficult at the end, not for classic sprinters, but the fast guys are able to go uphill a bit. There were more opportunities than one might think,” said Svorada.
ABOUT SPRINTERS. Svorada is closest to the sprinters, that was his domain, but no one stood out significantly in the sprints this year. “I think there was no dominant sprinter at the Tour, as there is usually. Except for van Aert, who was usually second in classic sprints. He used his power endurance either in the escape or in the harder sprint up the hill. I think that if he wanted a bit, even the last day on the Champs-Élysées he was one of the favorites of the stage. At the end of the Tour last week, Belgian Jasper Philipsen showed very well, winning two stages and finishing second behind Christophe Laporte. He showed who is the fastest in the peloton, he also managed the tricks on the hill last week, he was in the best condition, if I leave out van Aert,” acknowledged the former road driver.
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SAGAN. Slovakian phenomenon Peter Sagan attacked in vain on the podium this year, best finishing in the fourth stage. Did he have the last word at the Tour de France? “I don’t know his story in detail, how much covid, which he had two or three times, brought him down, how much he is still limited by his health condition, whether it has caused a drop in performance in recent years, or whether he is losing motivation as a result of changing teams, that he already they didn’t believe so much in Bora. Peter started very young and was the one who started this generation of young racers who are able to compete with far more experienced fighters, winning races from the age of eighteen, which was unheard of and unheard of until then. What van Aert did, Peter Sagan did in his prime. He has a lot of racing years and I think everyone gets a certain period of time in their wine when they are able to handle the stress of racing and the time-consuming pressure on them. Even the best will have some decline. I don’t want to say that he won’t win anymore races, maybe he will be able to recover from his health problems in a new team and maybe next year we’ll see, but for me it was one of his weakest Tours he’s ever ridden. Basically, it was about making it all the way from Paris and not giving up early, in terms of stages, it was just a shadow of Peter Sagan in his prime. His domain was the harder hill climbs, where he should compete with competitors like van Aert and not wait for a flat stage to arrive in the pack. He used to manage the harder stages with the left rear, he was able to go over the hill to get the body for the speed premium. It’s a sign that his fitness isn’t what it used to be, so he can’t expect to compete with the best rivals who have that fitness in the sprints where everyone is riding together. It’s a bit of a sad story, but it’s a sport and I expected moments like this to happen before. It is not usual to win from the beginning to the end of the season, as he did in various classics, the World Championship, several stages of the Giro and the Tour. In every athlete’s life, there are some great moments when it just goes, but then it doesn’t. From the beginning of his career, he miraculously avoided injury. We will see how he manages to deal with the situation, if he will be able to race again next year, or at the end of this year,” Svorada mused.