On Wednesday, defending champion Tadej Pogacar won the Tour de France’s 17th stage, a 178.4-kilometre mountain trek from Muret to the Col du Portet.
After being the first aggressor on the last climb, the Slovenian outsprinted Dane Jonas Vingegaard and Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz at the top of the lung-busting Col du Portet (16km at 8.7%) for his maiden stage win in this year’s Tour.
He now has a five-minute and 39-second lead over Vingegaard, with Carapaz third, four seconds behind, and Colombian Rigobrto Uran fourth, 7:17 behind, after cracking in the midst of the Col du Portet.
Only Vingegaard, Carapaz, and Uran were able to catch up to Pogacar 8.4 kilometres from the top of the Pyrenees pass. Uran’s second acceleration proved lethal, and he’ll need a miraculous recovery in Thursday’s 18th stage to Luz Ardiden, the Tour’s final mountain challenge.
“Last week we did a lot of work, the team was always in front to control the race. Today, with a small breakaway, we saw an opportunity to go for the stage win,” said Pogacar, who is also closing the gap on Dutchman Wout Poels in the mountains classification.
In the difficult ascent that ended at 2,215 metres, Carapaz was in the wheels of Pogacar and Vingegaard, and despite looking to be in pain, the 2019 Giro d’Italia champion attacked 1.4 kilometres from the top.
Pogacar, who seemed irritated by Carapaz’s demeanor, trailed while Vingegaard was dropped, only for the Dane to return with the sightline. Pogacar then sped away and was unable to be caught, securing a comfortable victory before collapsing flat on his back in exhaustion.
On Bastille Day, France’s David Gaudu finished fourth, 1:19 off the pace.
