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You have to have a bad memory to be a cyclist, says Rigoberto Urán, a Colombian cyclist from the EF Education-Easy Post team. To forget the pain and extract the experience, add. Confident in that amnesia-induced luck, Tadej Pogacar will bring out the best in his downfall on the way to Courchevel On the Tour de France’s queen stage, without any cracks in his soul. “I’m dead, I’m not going,” we all heard over the indoor radio with their squad. Her empty body became ours because On the slope of the Col de la Luz, Pogacar became human. Despite the devastation, once again the story of defeat and depressed hero’s struggle was more inspiring than the story of victory and success. It is an exceptional sport.

In theatrical terms, the Tour de France has lived at its peak since its inception, on a stage set up for the fearless showmen of this roving forum for daily performances. Compete Like Those Not Remembered, read the promotion on the bulletin board, at the same time they classify the work as science fiction, due to its two heroines, drama, and a lot of drama; Suitable for all audiences but not for sensitive hearts.

Where one gave, the other responded, and in parallel they were reaching the first targets in the Alps, separated by only ten seconds in the general classification. Balanced powers and passion containment. Some have already fantasized about the Tour being set for the final race in Paris, in front of the Champs-Elysées, as the perfect happy ending.

However, fate had another idea. Tuesday’s time trial hour at Combloux was the moment of truth. In that single battle, against time, Jonas Vingegaard crushed a good performance from Pogacar, Achieve a 1m38s advantage and claim some admiration from the world for the Slovenian. It was one of the biggest fairs in a time trial in living memory. “Not bad for a human,” Belo Bilbao told me after his great performance behind Vingegaard, Pogacar and Wout van Aert. “I was the first of the mortals,” said the Belgian, one of the best runners in the world who has become communal for the Tour and who, for a moment, set a hypothetical best time at the finish line.

And is that everything in this tour was virtual until dictating Vingegaard or Pogacar. “It’s modern bikes,” basically nobody understands anything about it. The traditional text of the sport has been lost to give way to one in which no one knows exactly what is going to happen. A blessing for the fans and a headache for the teams. There were logically annoying: the Pinots, Alaphilippe, Landa, etc. are riders of a very high level who could have won this Tour, but who The two rival teams did not leave. “But why won’t they allow us? If it’s another fight for you,” they lamented.

In Courchevel, like Pogacar, we were somewhat devoid of emotion. We had so much that we had very little left. The curious thing about Pogacar is that, despite the defeat, the post-race cycling circuit is waiting for him ready to battle it out for the last mountain objective of the Tour; Blinded by the hope encouraged by that story of redemption that so few can write. And I can’t stop thinking about the reasons why we continue to believe in him. Perhaps because Pogacar makes us believe without limits, protects us from our weaknesses, encourages us to bet everything, live without fear and enjoy the ride. To look directly at life without memory in the face of adversity. The only certainty is this: We will never forget the Tour de France.

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