Conclusion after first round week – The big fight at the top trumps everything – the sport

Pogacar vs. Vingegaard also features in a scene in Week 2

Pogacar’s duel against Vingegaard was actually kind of an open exchange of blows thus far. The Slovenian held the Dane a little further in the first two stages thanks to bonus seconds, before Vingegaard came back on stage five and Pogacar lost over a minute. But this shouldn’t be a small initial decision. By Monday’s first rest day, Pogacar had reduced the gap to the May jaune, which Vingegaard conquered on stage 6, to 17 seconds.

In the Tour’s second week, the particularly challenging Alpine stages promise more action in ranks 1 and 2. “The momentum is right now with the Emirates and Pogacar teams. They’ll try to get the yellow,” Losley believes. “Both drivers will try to exploit each other’s little weaknesses,” says Felder.

Dillier and Küng, the hardworking helpers

From a Swiss perspective, the tour has so far been unspectacular. Sylvain Delaire (Alpecin) and Stéphane Kong (Groupama-FDJ) were, as expected, too immersed in the help and unable to organize themselves on their own. Still, Delaire had several reasons to celebrate. Because teammate Jasper Philipsen from Belgium – one of the Tour’s positive surprises so far – gave the team no fewer than 3 days wins (all in the sprint).

One can assume that Dillier and Küng will also have to put themselves entirely at the team’s service in weeks two and three. “Let’s see if someone does some exercises, but you shouldn’t expect too much, because they’re just there as helpers,” says Felder.

You can find out about the positive and negative surprises of the first round week in the video above.