Another recognizable indication that Pogacar was not in full possession of his strength were the conspicuous rhagades at the corners of the mouth combined with herpes labialis [5], a clear indication of immune depression or infection. The fall at the beginning of the 17th stage, whose unfocused course of hanging on the rear wheel of the person in front is typical of a stricken racing driver, finished Pogacar off. The visibly bleeding excoriations and the associated bony contusion trauma to the elbow and knee were simply too much strain for the battered body on a stage with more than 5000 m altitude in the third week of the tour. At this point, another deficit in Pogacar’s training planning subsequently became noticeable. It is possible that the total annual stress on Pogacar’s organism was simply too high and the recovery phases were not sufficient. While Vingegaard systematically prepared for the TdF using smaller tours (O Gran Camino, Paris Nice, Tour of the Basque Country, Critérium du Dauphiné) and altitude training camps (Tenerife) [4a], the strenuous classic season cost Pogacar the substance that he later lacked . Not to mention that the healing process of his fracture has already put additional strain on his regenerative capacities. In order to compensate for the lack of training due to injury, Pogacar may have risked further overload with the crowbar in a very demanding hypoxia chain (altitude training camps in the Sierra Nevada and Sestriere) [4], which cost him the necessary reserves in the crucial third week of the tour. In addition, Pogacar’s constant attacks in the first two weeks of the tour used up the grains that were missing at the end. This is reminiscent of the Giro 2018, where a relentlessly attacking Simon Yates ultimately had to pay bitter tribute to his arrogance [6]. Jumbo-Visma very cleverly provoked this festival of attacks from Pogacar because they carefully analyzed his performance-physiological profile and knew how to beat him.
Pogacar’s performance analysis explains why Jumbo Visma tried to drive Pogacar out of his MaxLass/FATmax range as often as possible, so that at the end of a stage or in the third week of the tour his capacities are reduced and he can no longer exploit his limits [7]. They did this perfectly, for example, at the Col du Tourmalet or Col de la Loze [8] by sending important helpers ahead as satellite stations in day groups, even if Pogacar still benefited there, he then received the actual bill in the last week of the tour from Jumbo- Visma presents. UAE of course tried to neutralize Jumbo-Visma’s tactics and did everything right at the Col de la Loze, with satellite stations Adam Yates and Rafael Majka in the breakaway group of the day, only captain Pogacar was unable to dock to the noble domestics due to his drop in performance whose help against Vingegaard in the stage final will benefit as planned.
The time trial of the 16th stage was a technical and tactical masterpiece by Vingegaard, which must have been based on exceptional or suspicious performance-physiological indicators [9]. The time trial analysis [10] also confirms the above. Suspicion of Pogacar’s muscular problems. The more frequent pedal breaks in Pogacar vs. Vingegaard, especially in the high-speed sections in which Vingegaard was still pedaling while Pogacar was just rolling, could be explained by the muscular impairments in the groin area in Pogacar. He simply tried to take it easy more often because he may have already felt pain when moving there too. In this context, Vingegaard’s translation information is extremely interesting. At speeds around 70km/h and the visible pedaling frequency at which he was obviously still putting pressure and propulsion on the pedals, Vingegaard was with an even larger gear ratio (ÜV) of 56×10 (5.6) compared to Pogacar’s 58×11 (5 ,27). This was clearly a deliberate choice when you compare it with the two’s ÜVs in the TdF 2022 time trial. Vingegaard was there in similar passages with 58×11 and rolled more than kicked, in complete contrast to 2023. In this aspect too, Jumbo-Visma simply did the homework better than UAE.
