Seeing the final destination in Paris approaching, the nation was beginning to worry seriously with a possible zero pointed, a small humiliation at home which has only reached twice in the more than secular history of the event.
But Zorro arrived in the form of a skinny climber (24 years old, 1.72 m, 58 kg) who often complains of not succeeding in taking a gram while he ensures to eat like an ogre.
“I dreamed of it. Winning on the Tour de France is unique, doing it at Mont Ventoux is even more so. »»
A featherweight which still served him on Tuesday to tame the lunar and murderous slopes of the “Mont Chauve”, one of the hardest passes in Europe, where Tobias Johannessen, eighth general, had to be placed under respiratory assistance after having made a discomfort on arrival.
In the last meters so steep, “VPP” even seemed to go into levitation to beat the incredible Ben Healy with which the climber of Sudal Quick-Step had just waged a Homeric battle, refereed by Enric Mas and Santiago Buitrago, who made the elastic.
“I dreamed of it. Winning on the Tour de France is unique, doing it at Mont Ventoux is even more so, “said” VPP “who becomes the fifth French to impose on it after Raymond Poulidor, Bernard Thévenet, Jean-François Bernard and Richard Virenque, the last, in 2002.
“It’s a mythical place, so much happened on these slopes,” he said. I am in a Belgian team and when we ask the staff and the runners what collar they know in France, they all say: Mont Ventoux. »»
“Same superman …”
The scenario of the stage also was “legendary” with a fight on all floors. At the top of the pyramid, Tadej Pogacar scratched two seconds again to count now 4:15 ahead of Jonas Vingegaard.
But the yellow jersey had to resist three big attacks by the Danish, propelled each time by a different teammate, before placing one himself that Vingegaard easily stopped.
“My sensations today motivate me for the future and I will continue to try,” commented Vingegaard, victim of a slight fall on arrival after contact with a photographer.
“He really tried today. Fortunately, I had better legs than in 2021 “, when Vingegaard had dropped him into the Ventoux, commented on his Pogacar side after having broken the ascent record that had hitherto belonged to Iban Mayo.
The two men and the peloton counted almost seven minutes late on the footsteps, including Julian Alaphilippe. They finished forty seconds from the winner.
“If we could catch them?” Even Superman would not have succeeded, “said Pogacar who pulled his” Hat in Valentin “. “It’s great for a Frenchman. I saw it when you changed. He was on the phone, he looked so happy, it was beautiful to see. »»
The joy of the brother
“VPP” even “struggled to achieve” the extent of his feat, all the more beautiful since it was facilitated by the incredible return of his teammate Ilan Van Wilder in the last kilometer to offer him a last relay and sacrifice himself for him.
“I made a time against myself,” said the Belgian. Valentin had told me that he felt very good, when I am not so much. It was easy to make the choice, I drove for him. »»
For Soudal Quick-Step is already the fourth victory in this tour after the two of Tim Merlier and that of Remco Evenepoel in the time in Caen before the double Olympic champion abandons in the Tourmalet, a blow of the mass.
“Many said we were not strong enough. I want to say to them: are you going to kiss because we win on the Ventoux, ”added Van Wilder.
Tuesday morning on the bus, departing from Montpellier, “VPP” believed in it “not much”, convinced that Pogacar wanted to win. In the end, the stage winner on the Giro 2024 was able to sublimate to pick the third victory of his career, the most beautiful obviously.
And it was not the only parent-painter to raise his arms on Wednesday since his older brother Aurélien also exulted on the line, while he runs in a rival team, Decathlon-Ag2r, that Valentin left last winter for Belgium.
“I’m super happy,” said Aurélien. One day like that, there is no more jersey. »»
