Jonas Vingegaard, current winner of the Tour de France and winner, absolute dominator, of Itzulia 2023, still needs an introduction. He does not have the charisma of Pogacar, nor the record of Rogliç nor the popularity of Evenepoel. Standing on the top of the Eibar podium, he can already say that he has an implacable victory against the best of the peloton. Three stages, half, and the general.
The first, on Hika’s wall, he ran out of rivals, trapped in a snag. In the second, he beat Landa in the sprint. Nothing from another world. In the third, he claims his champion figure. He attacked 30 kilometers from the finish line and found no rival. Landa, Izaguirre, Gaudu, Carapaz, Higuita, Chaves… nobody. From Izua to Eibar alone. He solemnly entered Toribio Etxebarria street alone. Dressed in yellow, which always adds photos to the newspaper library. He put his hands to his mouth and blew kisses for everyone. The podium in Plaza Unzaga awaited him in the background.
Vingegaard cuts Pogacar’s lead. More voracious, restless, expressive, more cyclist. But the Slovenian does not yet have an Itzulia in his record. The Dane has less pull despite having an attractive story behind. He is an introverted boy who comes from Glyngore, a small fishing village where just a few years ago, from 2016 to 2018, he worked part-time in a fish factory. He would get up at five in the morning, start working at six, and leave by bike at twelve.
Two summers later he stood out in the Vuelta in favor of Rogliç. The next, he was second in the Tour. And in 2022 he wins it. The best race in the world. meteoric evolution. But the defeat of Pogacar is remembered more. Now a memorable duel between the two is expected in an edition that will start in Euskadi.
Eibar is the cycling heart of the Basque Country and the European City of Sport 2023. The nucleus of Itzulia and the town forgotten by the Tour and the institutions, the institutions and the Tour, which will not even deign to pass through its streets. Nor did the World Tour peloton honor him this year with the decorum that so many times has served as the magnificent culmination of Itzulia. What the cyclists considered was going to be chaos, a stage full of energizers, bomb crews and colored lights, was a brilliant strategy for the Jumbo, outnumbered by the withdrawals of Dennis and Hofstede, but with an obvious superiority over the rest of squads This explains why those who make up each line-up of the Dutch team sponsored by a hypermarket chain go out to each race with the aim of winning.
The supremacy so far this season was captured this time by Vingegaard, his leader for the Tour in a cast that also includes Rogliç and Van Aert. In the Itzulia minus Itzulia of recent years, less demanding, less explosive, less spectacular and less exciting (the level was very high), the Dane showed that there was a very big gap between him and the rest. Because his team nailed the strategy, but he didn’t have good legs.
The route of the last stage, with seven climbs in 137 kilometers, was a calm day for the winner of the Tour. He put two teammates in the break of the day, Attila Valter and Kruijswick. Among them, Guerreiro, Chaves, Buchmann, Großschartner, Paret-Peintre… all the teams represented except Gaudu, Ion Izaguirre and Mikel Landa, the ones who needed it the most if they wanted to win the race. With Caruso, Haig, Mader, Poels, Buitrago concentrating for the Giro, without Pello Bilbao, recovering in Gernika from his respiratory infection, and without the legs of another day, neither the player from Alava had the legs of other days nor Bahrain the ability to bother
Fast pace but smooth, with the break two minutes ahead, to Krabelin. The second wilder slope of Arrate climbed the Pernsteiner Pass. Sustained speed, comfortable for greyhounds. Chaves, Guerreiro and Kruijswijk were the strongest up front and Valter, whose name is Attila for a reason, fought and managed to re-engage from behind. Markina’s sprint bonus, for the Jumbo. Stop in the peloton. Schmid takes advantage and goes ahead. He arrived and attacked Chaves, the only one from that break who was pedaling to win the stage. The Swiss followed him. The Jumbos slackened in Trabakua. Plan B began.
In Eibar, the Swiss from Soudal is rewarding and, on the way to Izua, Gaudu’s Groupama appeared. Oomen barely let them out on camera. Izaguirre saw it coming and attacked to cut down Vingegaard’s gregarious, but he was wheeled away. And when the Basque sat down, the Dane got up. He went after Valter, who took him to Kruijswick, and he to Guerreiro. But he followed the wheel. He didn’t like seeing himself sandwiched between Movistar and he hit the final blow. In four minutes of climbing he cut the 60 seconds with which Chaves and Schmid started, who could only contemplate the distance from the Dane. With 28 kilometers to go, he went alone.
He took risks on the descent, filing down the guardrails as if he were Fernando Alonso on the streets of Monaco. He didn’t ride the Itzulia, he rides the Tour. Pogacar dealt the first blow in Paris Nice. Now Vingegaard imitates his victories. He took a minute and dedicated himself to reaching the finish line while they ran behind as if there was nothing ahead, without understanding and jerks. In one of those, James Knox, second at the finish line, left 47 seconds behind. Two later, Ion Izaguirre led the group, third. Enough bonus to overtake Gaudu and enter the podium. He fifth drawer in the tests of his house, this time accompanied by Landa, solvent second best in Itzulia and a full of Vingegaard, smiling and with txapela. The contrast with his white complexion, almost transparent, subtracts points. His exhibition at Itzulia counteracts them.
