Strange moment with Tadej Pogacar after reaching the opening stage.
Just before the coronation ceremony, the Slovenian is dropped off on the UAE team’s truck, where he appears to be taking an ice bath. Remarkably, however, it came back out after less than a minute and that it still looked dry.
“The UAE Chargé d’affaires is clearly not pleased with the fact that the van is surrounded by the press,” says Jean Bakelantis at Vive le Vélo.
“The ice bath is too short to work efficiently. We timed it and it barely takes 50 seconds.”
“The question then is: Why are the UAE so secretive about taking an ice bath? They can also, as Evenpool did in the Vuelta, fill a swimming pool with ice on the street.”
“So there’s probably more going on here. That’s why the team won’t want to share it with the competition.”
“Maybe it’s a form of cryotherapy, as it works with liquid nitrogen and can therefore simulate the effect of an ice bath in a very short period of time.”
“This probably set a new benchmark in the arms race for more optimal ways to recover. It might be too fast for Jumbo-Visma with this one.”
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