If Pogačar won here, the selection made among the others was as crucial for the following three weeks. The Tour had to use the Pyrenees given the start in Barcelona but what if the stage had been softened? Vingegaard’s Tour can be seen ending on Stage 15 after his crash on a roundabout. In the Tour Pogačar seemed unbeatable and the tactic of trying to wear him down seemed to be like using up a lot of softer rocks hoping to eventually wear down a diamond. Talking of droughts, this was a dry Tour, taking place across parched landscapes and not just the habitual southern transition stages.