Opinion: The Big Winners and Losers from Week 1 of the Tour de France 2022 from Wout van Aert to Tadej Pogacar

Winner – Wout van Aert

Of course Wout had to go first. No rider has been written about more this past week, nor had their name spoken more on the airwaves, or podcasts, than the big Belgian beast.

Before the Tour de France turned to terrain slightly more favourable to Tadej Pogacar, this edition was really just Wout van Aert’s race, with the rest of the riders mere supporting players.

So visible has he been that you may be surprised to see that he “only” has two stage wins to his name (so far). Van Aert finished in the top two on each of the first four stages. Rollover his victories from the final two of 2021’s Tour and he had a six-stage average finish position of 1.5.

Even when he hasn’t been an actual contender for the stages he has been their principal protagonist. On Thursday, just for kicks, he made one of the most audacious moves by the maillot jaune in memory. The effort ultimately cost him the race lead, but he was going to give it up eventually, and what a way to go.

When he wasn’t wearing yellow, Van Aert has been in green.

Loser – Primoz Roglic

Referring to a rider who suffered a dislocated shoulder as a “loser” might seem like it’s adding insult to a very literal injury.

The fact of the matter, however, is that Roglic was originally one of the favourites for the general classification and is already almost three minutes behind.

The Slovenian has at least partially paid the price of his team’s divided loyalties. When he hit the deck on the so-called Roubaix stage several of his team-mates were nowhere to be seen when he needed them most. Instead of by his side where they ought to have been, Wout Van Aert, Steven Kruijswijk and Nathan Van Hooydonck were picking up the pieces and rescuing the result of Jonas Vingegaard.

Roglic soldiers on. He was even able to attempt to sprint for victory the following day. He has finished where he should on each stage since, and already risen back up to 11th in the standings from a lowly 44th. A strong final placing, even a podium, is not beyond the realm of possibility.

What matters, however, is time. There will be no complete comeback from such a sizeable deficit. If he’s not already turned his mind to stage wins, how he can help Vingegaard over the next two weeks, and even August’s Vuelta a Espana, he should.

Winner – Ineos Grenadiers

In contrast with Jumbo Visma, Ineos Grenadiers have benefitted from a “we’ll see” approach to the general classification. The British outfit arrived in Copenhagen hoping for magic, but without placing too much pressure on any particular individual to pull a rabbit from a hat.

Dani Martinez was one of the riders selected with a potential GC battle in mind, but it hasn’t worked out for the Colombian climber. Even with the 26 year-old plummeting from 10th to 30th in the standings, Ineos still have three riders on the first page of results, one of whom holds a podium place. Martinez will now be expected to perform in service to Geraint Thomas and Adam Yates who,with the Tour taking them well over 2000m four times on Wednesday and Thursday, will welcome the support of one born at roughly the same altitude as the Galibier and Col du Granon.

Barring a bit of very bad fortune befalling Tadej “lucky” Pogacar, the overall victory may be beyond Thomas, Yates and Pidcock, but if you don’t buy a ticket, you can’t win the raffle. Ineos have a whole strip of them.

Loser – Astana Qazakstan

It’s not looking good for Vinokourov’s boys: nine stages into the race and they don’t have a single top ten finish to show for it. And it’s not like they’re faring any better in the general classification. Their best placed rider, Alexey Lutsenko, is currently sitting in 15th place, two seconds shy of five minutes down.

It’s not like expectations were stratospheric coming in, but they were certainly higher than what we’ve seen from them. Lutsenko finished 7th last year, took a stage victory in 2020 and should be approaching his peak. On the evidence so far, he and the team are only on the downward curve.

What’s worse is that while redemption is possible, it’s hard to see where the results will come from. Gianni Moscon dropped out due to long Covid; Joe Dombrowski made it up the road in Switzerland before falling away; the rest just aren’t racers of Tour de France caliber.

Back in February, when they dropped the second best rap song by a cycling team, many urged them not to give up their day jobs. The way things are going we’ll be saying they should stick to rapping instead.

Winner – Roman Bardet

Romain Bardet should really be yesterday’s news. While the Team DSM rider may not have made actual headlines of any kind this week, he has been getting on with weaving his own tale in an understated, effective fashion.

With a week of racing under his belt, little of which has taken place on favourable terrain, Bardet has every reason to see himself as a podium contender.

He has finished roughly where he has needed to on every stage so far, including the treacherous cobbles where he was far more fortunate than the last time the Tour played on the pave.

On Friday’s stage to the Planche des Belles Filles, Bardet climbed as well as he has in years, coming in just 21 seconds behind Pogacar and Vingegaard. Currently sitting in sixth place at 1’39, there’s every reason to imagine he will go higher.

It was a shame he had to abandon the Giro d’Italia due to illness, because he could have challenged Jai Hindley’s supremacy. The silver lining, however, is that we’ve been able to see him on the biggest stage of all. Now let’s see what he can do in the high mountains.

Loser – Chris Froome

There is one reason Israel Premier Tech, having bought their way into the WorldTour, are now staring relegation from it in the face.

The acquisition of Chris Froome in the summer of 2020, when he was still working his way back to competitiveness after the catastrophic crash in 2019, and far from certain to ever get back to his best, was a costly mistake that Sylvan Adams’ side has only compounded by twice selecting Froome for the Tour.

There is an argument, of course, that the four-time Tour de France winner is worth it for the stories that will be written about or those, such as this one, in which he will tangentially feature. Maybe there really is no such thing as bad publicity. He’s said to still be one of the highest paid riders in the WorldTour, so perhaps a highest place finish of 41st, and 37th overall represents some sort of return on investment.

It’s hard to imagine it would have been worth it against the selection of a handy rouleur like Daryl Impey (who won a stage of the Tour de Suisse) or even sprinter Giacomo Nizzolo, who you could easily imagine racking up the top tens.

He’s certainly not keeping them in the top tier of the sport.

Winner – Tadej Pogacar

Last but not least…

What more is there to say about Tadej Pogacar? Felix Lowe has spilled plenty of deserved ink on the two-time champion this week already, so why waste time reading imitative words, when you can go back and read the real deal.

The 23 year-old is well on his way to winning a third Tour de France in a row. He has performed as well, if not better, on the terrain where he might have been expected to struggle (relatively speaking) as the steep slopes that are his bread and butter.

The two stages that he has taken so far were won with ease, with aplomb, and with panache. There may come a time, in the not too distant future, when it is not exciting to watch him race, but becomes boring and predictable. We’re not there yet.