Van der Poel and UAE point to each other ahead of explosive Barcelona finale
Mathieu van der Poel did not need long to identify the favourite for Barcelona. The stage, he admitted, looks made for Tadej Pogacar. Whether it is still manageable for him is another question.
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Stage 2 of the Tour de France brings the race from Tarragona to Barcelona over 169km, with a demanding finale built around three ascents of the Côte du Château de Montjuïc.
The climb is only 1.8km long, but with an average gradient of 8.2% and a final 400m at 13%, it is steep enough to turn a nervous early Tour stage into a serious selection.
Asked who the parcours suited best, Van der Poel needed only one word.
“Tadej,” he told NOS and Sporza before the start.
For Van der Poel, the key will be whether the race stays together for long enough.
“I think it will have to remain a fairly closed race for me to be able to play a role today,” he said. “As I said yesterday, I think it is really harder than everyone thinks. Especially with the weather conditions and the stress that will come in the peloton, it will already be a difficult stage.”
The Alpecin-Premier Tech leader did not try to dress up his chances. Asked whether he could fight for the stage win, Van der Poel was blunt.
“I think there is more chance that I am not involved than that I am involved today,” he said. “But if there is a small opportunity, of course I will try to take it.”
“I am often realistic, and I think on that point I am not wrong very often,” he said. “I have enough experience now to know what happens on climbs like this. There may be a small chance, but it is small.”
His ideal scenario is clear: control, hesitation and a peloton that does not explode too early.
“Above all, a closed race,” he said. “But that does not happen very often anymore these days.”
UAE's tactics
That answer also sets up the tactical tension around the stage. Van der Poel points to Pogačar as the rider best suited to the Barcelona finale, but UAE Team Emirates-XRG see the responsibility differently.
Florian Vermeersch said UAE came out of the opening stage with confidence, even if Visma had made a strong impression.
“Visma are very strong and we rode a good team time trial,” Vermeersch told WielerFlits.
Pogačar’s ride on the final climb did not change much inside the team. Vermeersch said UAE already knew where their leader stood.
“We had confidence in him anyway, whether he set the fastest time there or not,” he said. “He had also done a lot of turns in the kilometres before. For us, the final time was what counted.”
Stage 2 could offer Pogačar a chance to respond after the opening day, but Vermeersch was careful not to put the responsibility on UAE.
“We will see,” he said. “I do not think it is up to us to control today. In the final it will be hard anyway. It is very warm, it is the first road stage, it will be hectic. I expect it to be a fight.”
Asked who should control instead, Vermeersch looked towards the stage hunters.
“I do not know how Mathieu feels, but I think Mathieu [Van der Poel], Pidcock, those kinds of riders, riders who also want to go for the stage today.”
Pidcock ready to go for it
Pidcock fits naturally into that group, especially after his performance at Milan-Sanremo earlier this year, where he was able to follow Pogačar on both the Cipressa and the Poggio. The Pinarello-Q36.5 rider did not hide that the stage suits him, even if he also pointed to the uncertainty around the heat and the first road stage of the Tour.
“It is 35 degrees and who knows?” Pidcock told VTM Nieuws. “First road stage is always a bit weird. But it is a stage that suits me, and we know there are other guys it also suits. We will go for it.”
The yellow jersey could also come into play, with 10, 6 and 4 bonus seconds available at the finish. If Pogačar wins the stage, he could move into yellow, although he would likely need to distance Vingegaard to do so. Vermeersch, however, dismissed the idea that taking the jersey this early would necessarily be a burden.
“Every day in the yellow jersey is a beautiful day,” he said. “I do not think you can describe that as a burden.”
Still, controlling the Tour for three weeks is another matter, and UAE are not getting ahead of themselves.
“We will see,” Vermeersch said. “First we still have to take yellow. It has not happened yet.”
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