Smash and grab

 

PREDICTABLY,  the MAN  of the moment, world champion Tadej Pocacar, emerged from his high-altitude training camp too  smash the opposition  for an outright win in the five-day Tour of Switzerland.

He’s a like a hit man, targeting and riding only specific races he wants to win, bagging the spoils at single day Classics – dropping in at the Tour of Romandie to mop  up there then off for high-altitude training before hitting the Swiss Tour. 

The smash and grab in Switzerland began early - on the very first stage -  with another astonishing attack when still 80 kilometres to go. He won by two minutes from Grand Tour winner Richard Carapaz and over four minutes on the rest.

Once again I felt dismay at the impotence of the rest of the field who seldom match this whirlwind. He’s been the subject of every single blog of mine so far this year.

Big hitters like Mattieu Van Der Poel (VDP) and another Grand Tour winner Primus Roglic were among those he left behind in Switzerland, the latter after indicating he would take him on.

He then won the stage three individual time trial, by one second from VDP.  Finally, he topped his wrecking spree up snatching final stage from the under the nose of only man to take him on that mountainous day, France’s Lenny Martinez who was caught within a few hundred metres of the summit finishing line.

Now Pog’s stated aim is to smash the field in the Tour de France and so join the small elite club of five time winners.

Can anyone challenge him? I live in hope.

He won the Swiss Tour by six minutes after five days of racing. If we dare to extrapolate from that to calculate his winning margin in Le Tour which is four times longer, are we looking at 24 minutes?

Why not?

*The greatest time gap since the 1950s is 28 min 27 sec, between Fausto Coppi (Italy) and Stan Ockers (Belgium) in 1952. (Guinness Book of Records),

Surely, rival team managers are plotting together to hatch a plan to combat Pogacar’s incredible show of strength. It’s not just rocket man himself that needs to be contained, but the entire UAE team which sets up the crippling pace that precedes launch.

What’s their secret?