MUSINGS ON THE WORLD OF PRO CYCLING
Here Tadej…
Even in a thrilling Giro, the shadow of the Tour de France looms large
It’s the Giro I feel most sorry for. It’s all very well being widely admired and placed on a pedestal by the cognoscenti. But what is the point in all these words of praise if the world’s greatest riders consistently treat you as second best?
The self-styled “hardest race in the most beautiful country” has a unique set of problems. Some of these come with its place in the calendar, and are simply logistical, medical and meteorological. I write this column a couple of days after it was announced that the Stelvio pass, one of the hallmark mountains of this edition, was to be scrapped because of the metres of snow that still blocked the passage of the race after a prolonged cold spring. And even in the very pleasant weather that has predominated for the first half of the Giro, a respiratory virus appears to be circulating through the bunch, claiming Cian Uijtdebroecks, the maglia bianca, yesterday, and doubtless more before we get to Rome. One year it’s Covid, the next it’s something else. For whatever reason, at this time of year there are more infections in circulation in the peloton.
This edition of the race has been (so far) dominated by the debutant Tadej Pogačar. I write these words on the understating that, of course, everything can change in the blink of an eye between me submitting this column and you reading it: yesterday both the dsm sprinters were catapulted through the air at 60km/h right in front of him, and the day before that a stray dog decided to head out for a stroll into the front of the bunch as it descended through a village.
But what won’t change is the pecking order of the Grand Tours. Pogačar’s much-anticipated first Giro had a chilling effect on a GC start list that already looked thin on the ground. And that was before the race even got underway. The last winner of the Giro to return the following year to try and win it again was Tom Dumoulin in 2018. Since then, and admittedly for a variety of reasons, the number one dossard has not been worn by a returning champion. That says a lot, I think.
It took until the first rest day of this year’s race for Tadej Pogačar to admit that the Tour de France was now in the back of his mind. The following day, on a summit finish which he could have won with one leg tied behind his back, his team chose to allow a break to get to the line. And when the GC race reached the finish, he followed the attacks (insolently easily) rather than instigating them.
That the Tour has primacy in the calendar is obvious and indisputable. That Pogačar has indeed targeted the Giro in 2024 is also true. But because of the ease with which he has thus far cruised into total control, the targets have already been recalibrated as he eyes a truly historic double. I get that. But it grates with the organisation of the Giro that the race against which they measure themselves has started to loom larger in the public discourse that the one he is currently leading.
It’s not that riders don’t focus a season around trying to win the Giro. Simon Yates often would, for example. But it’s true that not many do, and the very best usually don’t. And even when they do, it becomes a stepping stone to greater glory.
The odd one out is the Vuelta. Very few riders ever build a season around trying to win the last of the Grand Tours, aiming to peak in September. And yet, it often enjoys a startlist that outshines the other two, picking up a combination of Giro riders who sat out the Tour and Tour riders (Chris Froome was a good example) trying to extend their form for a further six weeks. Add into the mix a potpourri of frustrated talent from both pelotons who were thwarted in their ambitions for a variety of reasons and are looking for one last chance, then the Vuelta can often offer up a simmering array of exciting, attacking riders.
I don’t know how the Giro is to emerge from the shadow cast by its July twin. But for a proud cycling nation, its secondary status is starting to grate. And I don’t think they will much enjoy the sight of Pogačar taking the maillot jaune on Italian soil when the Tour de France starts in Florence in just a few weeks’ time.
Ned Boulting
Sports journalist
Ned is the main commentator for ITV’s Tour de France coverage and editor of The Road Book. He also tours his own one-man show.