Politt had just come out of the Tour, where UAE-Team Emirates, with Pogacar, won the overall classification and also claimed six stages. We saw the classics specialist repeatedly hammering away at the front for hours, even in the high mountains. He and Tim Wellens were the only riders for the flat stages. “In recent years, Tadej often found himself alone in the mountains, so it was decided to bring all our best climbers to the Tour. We didn’t want that to happen again. We wanted to put pressure on Vingegaard this time. In the last week over the Col de Bonette, we went so hard that Visma | Lease a Bike had to call a man back from the breakaway because Vingegaard was alone. We still had five riders in the group.”
Politt speaks about it with bravado, as UAE-Team Emirates was incredibly dominant. It started right from the opening weekend, where Pogacar wanted to test his main rival Jonas Vingegaard after his crash in the Tour of the Basque Country. “We didn’t know exactly how good Vingegaard would be, but we knew that Tadej was incredibly strong. He had an excellent preparation, with only ten race days before the Giro. He was extremely fit at the start of the Tour. We wanted to put pressure on Vingegaard from the fourth day over the Galibier, just like we did on the second day over the San Luca. How fit is he and what can he do? It turned out he was very fit, and we were in for an exciting Tour. That was great, because I’d also heard the stories from the Giro, where Tadej just rode away and won by ten minutes.”
Vingegaard was eventually also put in a significant deficit, but the Dane managed to keep it close for at least two weeks. On the eleventh day, he even took a stage win right from under Pogacar’s nose, which everyone saw as a potential turning point. “Tadej looked good at first and wanted to gain time. In the end, that didn’t work out. In such a tough stage, you need to consume 120 grams of carbohydrates per hour, and he didn’t do that. The engine then faltered a bit, as you saw in the sprint. Normally, he is much more explosive,” says Politt, who, with UAE, restored order in the last ten days. This was achieved with a sledgehammer in the peloton and Pogacar’s attacking spirit. Vingegaard really needs a team around him. When he’s alone, he becomes very nervous and constantly looks left and right. Then Tadej also comes over to you and says, “See, see? He’s nervous, isn’t he.”
