Each autumn, the steep slopes main as much as the Santuario Madonna di San Luca play host to the strongest climbers on this planet, with the likes of Primož Roglič, Enric Mas, and Aleksandr Vlasov having scored wins on the Giro dell’Emilia on the hill overlooking Bologna.
On Sunday, the 2km climb – christened the Côte de San Luca by Tour de France organisers ASO – was within the Grand Tour limelight for the primary time because the 1984 Giro d’Italia as its French counterpart got here to city.
The climb, this time located on a closing circuit 12km from the end in downtown Bologna, noticed Moreno Argentin rejoice an early victory en route to 3rd place general behind Francesco Moser and Laurent Fignon 40 years in the past.
In 2024, it was a contemporary legend, Tadej Pogačar, who made the headlines as he lit the fuse on the Tour de France GC battle on day two, taking his foremost rival Jonas Vingegaard with him and racing into yellow himself.
He was the primary man to leap on the steepest slopes of the climb, leaving little response behind him, barring the Dane, who dispelled any doubts about his early race kind by sticking within the wheel.
“I did a extremely good assault, and I used to be joyful that I might explode the contenders just a little bit,” Pogačar stated after the stage. “Jonas was fairly quick on my wheel and he was actually robust. We went to the end after which Evenepoel and Carapaz got here within the final kilometre as effectively.”
The 4 males crossed the road collectively 21 seconds away from the chasing group, which included Tour de France GC contenders Primož Roglič, Enric Mas, Egan Bernal, in addition to now former yellow jersey Romain Bardet.
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Pogačar now inherits the maillot jaune from the French veteran, although it is maybe a present he did not need.
After the end he was caught on digicam chatting with Evenepoel – now in white as finest younger rider – asking if the Belgian had taken the lead and noting that he had “left a niche within the ultimate just a little bit” to attempt to foist the jersey, together with its myriad media and podium obligations, onto his rival’s shoulders.
Regardless of that change, Pogačar and his workforce insisted they have been joyful to be within the race lead for the primary time because the race hit the Alps two summers in the past.
“It was an excellent stage. I did an excellent effort, and it feels good to be in yellow once more. Final yr I used to be so shut after which I cracked. It is good to be in yellow even when it is with none margin. It is affirmation that I am robust.” Pogačar stated.
UAE Workforce Emirates’ sports activities supervisor Joxean ‘Matxin’ Fernández additionally agreed with him.
“The yellow jersey within the Tour de France is all the time welcome,” the Spaniard stated. “It is good. They’re the 2 large names within the Tour de France. They’re each the winners of the previous 4 Excursions de France. We’re right here to win. It is the right conflict on the bicycle and on the bicycle, Jonas is Jonas.”
The workforce can fairly simply rid themselves of yellow – in the event that they so want – within the coming week. Plan A for the rest of the Tour de France certainly would not embrace 19 extra days of prolonged podium ceremonies and press conferences – on stage 3, Evenepoel solely wants a handful of locations on Pogačar to leap into the general lead.
There was no speak, but, of that from the brand new chief, nonetheless. As an alternative, the post-stage focus lay in getting a gauge on the type of his rivals.
“It was the second to attempt to see what the extent is of the opposite riders. It is good to grasp that” Matxin stated, as soon as once more agreeing together with his chief.
“It was a adequate ultimate to check the legs of me and of different contenders,” Pogačar concluded. “In the present day went fairly regular and the breakaway went actually good. They took nearly 10 minutes, and we knew that we had a small probability to win the stage, so we did not need to undergo on the entrance for perhaps a victory.”
