Man, I’m just not seeing what a lot of people are seeing and talking about saying aside from the TT, Jonas can stay with Pogi. On stage 10 I saw Pogi finally get fed up with Matteo’s toothless accelerations and showed Visma what an earnest attack with teeth looks like. Yes, Jonas was able to get back on his wheel after being gapped, but it looked to me like he was making a hard effort to get there. I think if Tadej had taken off and gone hard again just as Jonas caught up and relaxed, he could have dropped him and put at least another ten seconds or so into him. No one else seems to see it that way, so I’m not trying to be “right.” Just how it felt watching it live. Haven’t watched any replays.
I understand what Visma is trying to do, and I agree with the strategy. They worked it to perfection in 2022, hitting Pogi with coordinated attacks on the Galibier from Roglic and Jonas, even G joined in for a couple of hard accelerations. Pogi also had to watch Kuss in case Jonas went with him to be launched into a significant attack. They assaulted him repeatedly with legit attacks to make him actually burn those matches, rather than swatting flies like Mondays stage 10. Gradient and altitude were a factor that day, too. They were able to finish him on the Col du Granon. Anyway, it’s a good plan, but they’re going to have to find a way to hit him harder if they want to compete for the GC. I like Matteo, but him and Jonas are the only Visma riders Tadej needs to chase if they attack. Maybe Visma is saving something, and despite the UAE team situation, I don’t see anyone hurting Pogi. He’s just a legend. I do hope Visma, Healy, Remco, or someone makes a real challenge of it. The Pogacar domination era is fascinating historically, but not so interesting to watch when a grand tour is decided so soon.