I would never have imagined that Pogi would not win this 2022 Tour. I was sure he would win it 100%.
Average speed of this Tour was 42,106 km/h. It was the fastest Tour of all time. Schachmann explained they had tailwind all Tour long.
Vingegaard was stronger than Pogi, in climbing and timetrial. That is a huge surprise. No one knows how this could happen. And no one knows what this means for the future.
I hope Bernal recovers completely and quickly. Then, 2023, at the Tour, we have the big four for GC (Pogi, Vinge, Primoz and Bernal), and the big three for Green (WVA, MVDP, Girmay).
Tadej now will go to the Vuelta, and try to win it for the first time. If Primoz has two broken vertebrae, Pogi should have good chances of winning this 2022 Vuelta. His strongest opponents will certainly be Giro winners Hindley and Carapaz, plus Haig and almost everyone from Bahrain.
I could imagine UAE sends Ayuso to the 2022 Vuelta for 10 or 14 stages. UAE will need him now, earlier than expected. Ayuso‘s development as a rider has gone really well in recent times. Some even consider him the new/next Pogacar…