You could argue that it was inevitable Tadej Pogačar would win the penultimate stage of the Tour de France in the mountains.
History, and the people around him, suggest that when Pogačar loses something he wants to win, he comes back the next time like a dog with a bone, adamant about evening the score.
And that's exactly what the 24-year-old did on stage 20 in Le Markstein Fellering on Saturday, outsprinting an elite five-man group including Felix Gall (AG2R Citroen), arch-rival Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma), Simon Yates (Jayco-Alula), and UAE Team Emirates teammate Adam Yates, to take his second stage win of the 110th edition.
The victory came a couple of transition stages after the Slovenian conceded his yellow jersey fight with Vingegaard was over, having cracked in the Col de la Loze where the effort of his labours in this mountainous Tour became evident, sunken eyes bordered by dark circles that starkly contrasted a pale complexion.
As he walked into the press room as the Tour's runner-up, stage winner and champion of the best young rider classification, which he won't be eligible for next season, Pogačar smiled at people he knew in the waiting press pack who sat before him.
The colour was back on his face.
"Today I felt like myself again," Pogačar said.
"Sometimes this is just bike racing and all you want to do is feel good. It's pretty shit when you don't feel good. Today I was feeling like myself again, this was the most important thing today. That's why I have my smile back."
Pogačar in just four seasons has become synonymous with the Tour. Since 2020 he has won two yellow jerseys and twice now finished second to Vingegaard.
Their rivalry had the race enthralled before the Alps, with mere seconds separating the pair on general classification.
Vingegaard maintained throughout that the Tour would not be decided by seconds, but rather minutes, and in the Alps we all learned why. The now two-time champion shocked UAE Team Emirates with his blistering time trial to Combloux and was clinical on the queen stage the following day, where Pogačar, in a rare display of fallibility, told the world he was "f—ked".
It was not the first time he faltered at the Tour, which he entered on the back of limited preparation having fractured his wrist at Liège-Bastogne-Liège in April after a wildly successful spring classics campaign.
Vingegaard on stage 5 had his measure, and zealous pundits then feared the fight for the coveted yellow jersey was over, before Pogačar rebounded to win the next day, taking a bow as he crossed the line in Cauterets-Cambasque.
There was much talk of Jumbo-Visma devising a plan to crack the man that challenged Vingegaard's tough task of a successful title defence the most.
The team defied Pogacar's shot at a third consecutive maillot jaune last season with a tactical masterclass on stage 11. But Pogačar shrugged off the suggestion that their purported plan worked this year.
"The only moment where they really tried to crack me was, I mean they cracked me on Marie Blanque [stage 5] because he was just so much better, and then next day they tried to crack me completely but then I win the stage," Pogačar said.
"Then after, I just cracked myself, nobody else cracked me."
"It was all on me and nobody else did anything on me. It was me and my bad feeling."
"I cracked myself."
Pogačar will surely sit and reflect on his performance at the Tour sometime after it finishes in Paris tomorrow, and there will be much more to say in the coming weeks. There is already debate about his lead-up and whether he will have to pass on big objectives, like the spring classics, or "challenges", as he calls them if he wants to win the Tour again. Effectively, will he have to cede racing how he likes to race to beat Vingegaard?
Pogačar's immediate takeaway from this Tour, speaking to the press on Saturday, was learning what he can withstand.
"I can suffer when I'm super, super shit and low. I push through, and this was a big lesson for me. We will take some good points from this Tour de France for sure," he said.
"It was really tough, [the] last week, and with all the support from the team, from my family, from girlfriend, from friends, from all the fans on the side of the road, from social media even, it was really everybody kept motivating me."
"I was also just trying to push through because second place [on general classification] even after a really, really bad day is still a good result, so I was trying to get through the worst moments and always hoping for a better moment. Finally, today was a good moment, and in the end, it's worth it."
