Tom Dumoulin sees the first cracks appearing in UAE's armour: 'Unfortunately, that didn't work out'

On Tuesday, Tom Dumoulin watched from the front row as Tadej Pogacar claimed another stage victory in the Tour de France at Le Lioran. The Dutchman was there as an analyst for NOS and explained afterward just how incredible the level of dominance is. At the same time, he also noticed other interesting things right after the stage.

First and foremost, of course, the conversation was about the winner. “Pogačar closed the gap by almost a minute in six hundred to seven hundred meters,” Dumoulin said, staring at the Slovenian with his mouth agape. “He really took off like a rocket. Vingegaard didn’t even bother trying to keep up; there just wasn’t a chance at all.”

"When you see how he blows past Carapaz—it’s as if Carapaz is standing still. And Carapaz isn’t an early breakaway rider or a tired rider who’s been leading the pack all day; in fact, he’d only just broken away. That’s truly unbelievable," explains the rider from Limburg. “As a rider, this can sometimes make you feel discouraged. There’s just absolutely nothing you can do against this Pogačar. Even on a day like today, when his team wasn’t quite at its best, he’s unbeatable.”

Speaking of that team: after some solid work by Tim Wellens and company, it did indeed seem as though Adam Yates, Brandon McNulty, and Isaac del Toro weren’t quite on their game. “Today’s scenario was exactly like the one two days ago: riding all day long and, when it came down to it, just lacking the strength or the right opportunity.”

"Pogacar was determined to win here at Le Lioran because of his memories from two years ago, when he was beaten in the sprint at this very same finish line by Vingegaard of all people. In the end, he finished it off fantastically today, but that wasn’t thanks to a strong team. On the Pertus, one after another from UAE had to drop back,” Dumoulin noted as well.

"I suspect that Del Toro, who was in the white jersey riding on Pogačar’s wheel, was the reason UAE didn’t push on. Because he probably wasn’t feeling well, he said, ‘I’m not feeling well.’ "Of course, Pogačar didn’t want to take advantage of his teammate’s bad day, since he’d like to have him on the podium with him in Paris," he analyses.

"As a result, Pogacar didn't attack until a little later, on his own, hoping that Del Toro could still stay with the chasing group behind him. Unfortunately, that didn't work out. Del Toro fought with grit, but he did drop four spots in the general classification and is now seventh,” says Dumoulin, who is already looking forward to the rest of the Tour. “It was pure excitement all day long—truly edge-of-your-seat action. We definitely can’t complain, even though the winner in the end was the man we’d all expected.”