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  • Attacking in pro racing affects the stage result more than the whole race result so there aren't thousands (or even many hundreds) of km left - the Milan - San Remo at 298km is the longest pro race and Grand Tour stages are usually a fair bit shorter. And ultra-racing, which may have thousands of km to go doesn't, depend on drafting; the riders may not see each other for days.
    – Chris H
    Commented Jul 4 at 15:38
  • 1
    @ChrisH I tried to make the question generic, because it happens often enough. Let me rephrase the question concretely. Why did Jonas Vingegaard feel the need to respond to Tadej Pogačar's attack? JV didn't seem particularly interested in winning the stage. Like past years, he's after "winning the war, rather than just that one battle."
    – Sam7919
    Commented Jul 4 at 15:50
  • 1
    @ChrisH don’t many ultra-races explicitly forbid drafting for solo racers? (As if that could be enforced...)
    – Stephen Kitt
    Commented Jul 5 at 8:44
  • I think that Jonas Vingegaard reacted immediately to Pogačar's attack on Stage 2 of Tdf, because Jonas had to answer his own questions, mainly, how close is Jonas from "fully recovered" after last crash at Itzulia Basque Country, back in April. The same applies to any other competing riders who aspire to break away from the peloton and need to know how far and long can they keep ahead.
    – MindDBike
    Commented Jul 5 at 8:57
  • 1
    @StephenKitt some certainly do. Maybe all. But even if it was allowed it wouldn't be a big part of race strategy
    – Chris H
    Commented Jul 5 at 9:35