When Tadej Pogachar fell on the Granon Pass on stage 11 of this Tour de France, it was tempting to compare it to the end of a regime like that of Eddy Merckx in 1975 in Pla-Loup or Miguel Indurain in 1996 in Les Arcs.

For Merckx and Indurain, both of whom were seeking their sixth Tour win, the most in history, these defeats signaled the beginning of the end. Pogachar, by contrast, is only 23 years old. This Tour must represent a bump in the road rather than the beginning of an untimely decline.

In this respect, Pogachar's loss to Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo Visma) in Granon overlaps with Merckx's loss to Luis Ocaña in the 1971 Orcières-Mellette. Pogachar, like Merckx, responded by attacking the new maillot jaune at every opportunity. Merckx had fate on his side when Ocaña crashed on the descent of the Col de Mante. Pogachar, by contrast, was not at all lucky, and his string of successes in the Tour was interrupted when he faced an irreconcilable enemy in Vingegaard.

"I think Taddei is still Taddei, the strongest rider in the world," manager Mauro Gianetti told Cycling News. 'Vingegaard is clearly strong, he's racing very well, and he's surrounded by top-level teams, especially the extraordinary Van Aert.'

"Because of his character and youth, Taddei made a mistake in the Granon stage and from there a series of obligations arose. He had to change the way he raced and take risks. But in the end, you have to respect what Vingegaard did.

In the 12 months since Pogachar won his second consecutive Tour last July, the Slovenian seemed to be fighting history as well as his contemporaries. The more he won monuments, dominated stage races, and unleashed hellish attacks, the more his reference points shifted from Roglic and Bernal to Merckx and Innault. This Tour, and Vingegaard's phenomenal performance, brought Pogachar back to the here and now.

On Saturday evening in Rocamadour, Pogachar admitted that there are lessons to be learned from this Tour, although he did not speak of specifics.

"I've learned a lot in the last three weeks; I had one bad day because there were a lot of little things," he said. There are always opportunities to improve." I think we have room for everything for next year."

Pogachar's biggest problem in this Tour was, of course, Vingegaard, who had made his strength known last year in Mont Ventoux and in the Pyrenees. His complete disregard for conserving energy. He attacked on the cobbles in the opening week and seemed to have won a series of stages, but on the fateful 11th stage, he was forced to go with Jumbo Visma's attack on the Galibier. He had to give up something.

Gianetti acknowledged that Pogachar had made a mistake, but was reluctant to force his protégé to start racing against his nature by riding more conservatively.

"It will be the first time he has been in this situation and he will gain a lot of important information from it. We don't want to completely change the character and personality of a champion like Taddei."

"He reacts very calmly. It's easy to accept that someone has run stronger than you, but Vingegaard is not far behind.

"We must also remember that Tadej only had three teammates in the end because of COVID-19. Once it got into the team, it created incredible tension, which didn't help, but the youngsters reacted really well and stayed focused."

"The team was very strong, but the team was not able to get the best out of it.

As riders like Merckx, Indurain, and Inaud discovered in yesteryear, dominance in the Tour rarely translates into popularity. Pogachar lost a bit of his aura of invincibility after losing this Tour.

"Maybe being in this position would have shown the world who Taddei really is," said Janetti, who admitted that Pogachar's battle was definitively lost when he crashed on the descent of Spandale on Thursday.

"There wasn't a huge physical difference between Taddej and Vingegaard, but I think that fall affected his morale."

At a press conference after Saturday's final stage, Pogachar vowed to return to the Tour in 2022, warning that Vingegaard's success would only motivate him to "be better next year." Pogachar will not necessarily wait until next year to redeem himself.

The Vuelta a España begins in four weeks in Utrecht. The Vuelta España was tentatively included in his program at the start of the season, and a final decision on his participation will be made in the next week or so.

"The Vuelta is the Vuelta and it is not an easy race. We'll talk about the Vuelta next week when things calm down. First we will finish the Tour and then we will calm down and talk about the second half of the season," Gianetti said, dismissing the idea that Pogachar will use the Vuelta to prepare for the stage hunt and the world championships. [No, if he does go to the Vuelta, he will go for the win, as he always does, from January to December. That is part of his way of life and he cannot approach it any other way. And it is part of our job to manage Tadej carefully and long-term."