Pog, Rog and the death of the old(er) flames - 2020 Tour review

Saying that this year’s Tour de France had the most dramatic climax of my lifetime is not anywhere near the compliment it deserves. As Tadej Pogacar made fellow Slovenian Primoz Roglic walk the plank of Belles Filles, we were witnessing not only the emergence of a new precocious talent, yet to turn 22 by the time he stands on the top step of the podium, but perhaps a symbolic changing of the guard in Grand Tour racing. The 2020 tour will see Pogacar claim three of the four jerseys, all in which we can see a clear pattern favouring new emerging talent – many of whom are just experiencing their first Grande Boucle.

After dramatically losing the yellow jersey to Greg LeMond and his aero bars in 1989, Laurent Fignon cut a disconsolate figure, finding himself subsequently unable to seriously challenge for the overall title in subsequent years.

Roglic is older than Fignon was back then, and whilst he remains an undoubtedly strong rider, it is easy to draw comparisons between the two runners up, who even with the strongest teams around them, couldn’t protect themselves in the race against the clock. It is inherently bizarre to be writing off 30 year old Roglic’s chances considering Chris Froome won his forth Tour aged 32 and went on to win the Giro and finish third in the Tour the following year, however the emergence of Egan Bernal, Richard Carapaz, even Miguel Angel Lopez alongside Pogacar, suggest that younger generations of cyclists are asserting themselves at the top far earlier than many predicted.

For all the drama at the top of this year’s Tour standings, most of the race has focused our attention has elsewhere. With Jumbo-Visma riding strongly throughout, Roglic’s lead never appeared in danger. Pogacar meanwhile found himself being written off after losing time in the crosswinds of Stage 7 and his perceived inferior Time Trialling ability to Roglic and Porte. Instead we were drawn to the sudden demise of Bernal and Quintana, neither Colombian able to keep pace with the seemingly imperious older Slovene.

We were also watching the Green jersey competition which for once wasn’t dominated by Peter Sagan. Even excluding his points deductions for reckless sprinting, Sagan’s inability to win a stage this year may in hindsight go down as the beginning of the end for the three-time World Road Race Champion, as the nature of bike racing itself changes. Sagan’s strength was that he was the second best at almost every discipline. He would climb mountains with the strongest breakaways to claim intermediate sprints and could minimise his losses at stage finishes by following wheels to finish second or third. But this year he could do neither. On multiple occasions, his Bora Hansgrohe team rode hard to distance the pure sprinters but Sagan so often failed to capitalise.

He wasn’t helped by Michael Morkov, who this year established himself as perhaps the best lead out man since Mark Renshaw, depriving Sagan of second places behind Sam Bennett multiple times. For Bennett, this tour is a vindication of his move to Deceuninck Quick-Step, as he has beaten the former teammate whom repeatedly relegated him to the sprinter unfriendly Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a Espana. Aged 29, and also facing a younger generation of sprinters such as Caleb Ewan, Dylan Gronewegen and the multi-talented Wout Van Aert, it’s unclear whether Bennett can repeat this feat and come close to emulating Carrick-on-Suir’s greatest ever sprinter – Sean Kelly. Circumstance will likely determine his fate.

Unless you’re Miguel Angel Lopez, the story or Richie Porte at this year’s Tour is a joyous one. Like Bennett, his result this year is redemption for so many years of misfortune. The friendly face off the bike who spent so many years working for Chris Froome before being derailed by injury when at BMC, Porte was gritted and tenacious, riding brilliantly up the Col de la Loze on Stage 17, before performing one of the best Time Trials of his career, taking over five minutes out of Lopez when only 1 minute 39 was required, finishing only a fraction of a second behind the former World Time Trial champion Tom Dumoulin, who this year was demoted to super domestique through no fault of his own, and still finished 7^th.

This was Porte’s last shot at GC success and he knew it, but he was unfazed throughout, even when he punctured on the gravel of stage 18, he remained calm and recovered quickly to rejoin the front, something a Porte of 2016 or ’17 may have been unable to achieve.

The truth is, the 2020 Tour de France will be remembered as the year cycling went on, as much of Europe teetered on closing down again. The success of holding the race and keeping the riders and staff relatively, but not exclusively, safe will go down as an achievement of French logistical engineering. Much like every Tour de France for that matter.

In a decade or so, we could look at this tour and 2019’s, as opening the floodgates to a new era of climbing talent. But this year will live long in the memory for so many. This new generation of GC contenders were not professional during the era of Armstrong et al so this may offer a fresh break for cycling’s image altogether. But for now, it’s worth celebrating the achievements of a young talent from Slovenia, who aged 21, deep in the forested Vosges mountains, found the world at his feet. I for one, look forward to seeing how he makes his mark on it. Chapeau Tadej! 

Images: Sky, Deceuninck Quick-Step, Daily Sabah