Vingegaard prepares like Armstrong, Pogacar takes a Boogerd-style approach to the Tour: "It might end up breaking him"

In his column for De Telegraaf, Michael Boogerd writes that he does not necessarily believe Pogacar has gone too deep. “Has he burned all his matches for the year? Let’s be clear, he had to dig deep in both the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, and that was mostly because of Mathieu van der Poel. He felt the aftereffects during the Amstel Gold Race, but after his wins in La Flèche Wallonne and Liège–Bastogne–Liège, I do not get the sense that he is spent.”

Pogacar opened his season with overall victory at the UAE Tour, then went on to win Strade Bianche, the Tour of Flanders, La Flèche Wallonne and Liège–Bastogne–Liège. He also finished second in Paris-Roubaix and the Amstel Gold Race, and took third in Milan-Sanremo. “He had a near-perfect spring without setbacks and does not need to train like crazy now to hold his form,” Boogerd concludes. He notes that the Slovenian is now taking some time off to reset mentally. “It looks to me like Pogacar has been training less intensively between races and has eased off whenever possible.”

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The former Dutch pro explains that he also enjoyed racing heavily in the spring before building toward peak form for the Tour. “In the spring I always raced the hilly classics, and I noticed that gave me a strong base for the rest of the season. It made me stronger in the Tour de France as well.” He does note one key difference. “I was not fighting for the yellow jersey, and Pogacar is.” Still, he adds, “I find it surprising that Vingegaard chooses not to race at least a few one-day events.”

Because the Dane from Visma | Lease a Bike is taking more of a "the Lance Armstrong style approach, partly due to injury setbacks, Boogerd says. “When Lance came onto the scene, he introduced the idea of a full focus on the Tour de France. His entire winter and race calendar revolved around the biggest cycling race in the world.” The American often skipped the spring classics as well. “If you can win the Tour, don’t tell me you wouldn’t be able to follow the best in races like Liège–Bastogne–Liège or Il Lombardia.”

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“To each their own. Maybe this is the perfect formula for Vingegaard, and if you’ve won the Tour twice, you’ve earned the right to do things your way,” Boogerd says. “Still, it must be tough to watch your biggest rival rack up that many wins. I would personally find it hard to stay calm if I saw Pogacar putting up those kinds of results. And because he’s feeling so good, he’ll head into the Tour de France full of confidence.”

That said, there’s always a chance Pogacar could pay the price for his packed spring calendar. “Maybe that heavy month of April pushed certain systems to the limit, systems Vingegaard hasn’t had to tap into. That might come back to bite him in the Tour if his body starts telling him to stop. Then again, we saw last year how Pogacar dominated the Giro d’Italia and was still clearly the strongest in the Tour de France. He’s incredibly fit and recovers fast from big efforts. So to be honest, I don’t see a problem there.”