Professional cyclists are a modest bunch and prefer not to talk up their achievements for fear of disrespecting their rivals. But there are times when they have to drop the politeness and express their amazement. Stage five of the Tour de France was one of those moments.
Tadej Pogačar could stick to the usual script, but he would be acting disingenuous: the 33km flat time trial in and around Caen – just weeks after he produced a disappointing time trial performance at the Critérium du Dauphiné – went as good as perfect for him.
Stage six is by far the race’s toughest test yet, with more than 3,500m of elevation stacked into a 200km passage through the hills of Normandy. “It’s really hard,” Fernández added. “We need to see how much time there is to [Visma’s Matteo] Jorgenson and other riders that could do damage. It’s not only us two teams – Remco is second in the GC.”
