If it wasn’t already clear on the Col du Tourmalet that Tadej Pogačar is in a league of his own at this year’s Tour de France, he and a rampant UAE Team Emirates-XRG made sure it was as obvious as ever on the road to Le Lioran, dominating nearly the entire final 100km to deliver their peerless talisman to another triumph.
The one rider who has beaten him at the Tour in the past and could have been able to match him was among those well beaten on Tuesday. Even Jonas Vingegaard had no answers to Pogačar’s inevitable attack on the Col de Pertus, or when it was mano a mano on the uphill drag to the finish.
After guiding the second group through to the line with gritted teeth and the pain evident all over his exhausted face, Vingegaard was empty by the time the sprint for second unfolded. Left behind in the broadcast images, the Dane looked like a defeated champion, his head dropping as he crossed the line 44 seconds after his long rival.
Two years ago in the same location, Vingegaard kept the Tour alive and looked like he had turned the momentum around against Pogačar when he chased him down and out-sprinted him to victory in Le Lioran.
There would be no repeat as Pogačar took his revenge from that day, as he did on all of the mountains that followed in 2024. From that day on, in fact, the balance has swung massively in the Slovenian’s favour, this stage just the latest example. At the time, it was Vingegaard who was the two-time defending champion; now he looks set for a third successive loss in the race for yellow.
Vingegaard debriefed with Danish compatriot Mattias Skjelmose en route back to the bus. After a quick cool-down on the turbo trainer, he put on a mask and spoke to the media, with his right eye slightly bloodshot and the signs of a difficult defeat all present.
With so many climbs to come, including the hardest stages in the Alps, Vingegaard was right not to concede defeat yet – what kind of elite sportsman would he be if he did? But it’s clear this GC race is getting away from him, and while he may be “getting better” as the days go on, so is Pogačar, and at a rate Vingegaard can’t live up to.
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There are 11 stages to go, so the race is not over yet, with two days to Alpe d’Huez and a brutal stage to Plateau de Solaison among those to come, but Pogačar’s massive 3:36 lead over his closest rival points to the opposite.
Booed at the finish, the Slovenian is on the express train to a record-equalling fifth yellow jersey, and it seems neither his rivals nor the spectators’ opinions can stand in his way of winning almost every stage he can along the way.
A thrilling race for the podium
If the race for first place isn’t as alive as nearly everyone, including the Tour’s organisers, would’ve hoped, the race for second and third is heating up nicely behind the all-conquering Pogačar.
Vingegaard, while still the second strongest climber, is clearly willing to risk second in pursuit of the overall victory, even if that isn’t the best use of his resources. Winning the Tour twice against Pogačar puts him in a very different position to the rest of the top 10. He knows he can beat him; he has twice, so why should he settle for less?
However, this is allowing those racing more tactically behind him to gain an advantage, with five riders sitting in Vingegaard’s wheel for much of the final 15km of Tuesday’s stage. By the time they sprinted for the remaining bonus seconds, he was spent.
Remco Evenepoel took full advantage after he had been struggling on the wheels and dropping, sprinting to third and gaining 18 seconds on the Dane amid his late struggles. Now just 30 seconds behind the Visma rider, Evenepoel will be hoping to defend that gap before the stage 16 individual time trial, where he could use his favoured discipline to take control of second spot.
The big problem for Evenepoel is that he looks the weakest climber of the top seven in the Tour de France GC standings, who are – except for Pogačar – only separated by 1:32. With five of the remaining 11 stages to be fought out on summit finishes, his Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe co-leader Florian Lipowitz actually looks the more likely to return to the Tour’s final podium.
While lacking the sprint of Evenepoel, Lipowitz has been the much more consistent leader for the German team, climbing at a higher level and never being dropped by those he is racing for third.
The other big gain for Lipowitz, Evenepoel, Paul Seixas and Juan Ayuso in the race for second and third is that not only did Vingegaard take a hit on Tuesday, but Pogačar’s lieutenant, Isaac del Toro, did too, with the Mexican struggling home for eighth on the stage and dropping four places to seventh overall.
It was the only real sign of weakness shown by the otherwise flying UAE squad, with Adam Yates momentarily stopping the brutal pace on the penultimate climb as they tried to keep Del Toro in the group. Likely telling Pogačar not to focus on him, the world champion soon made his move, off the back of Seixas’ Decathlon and then Vingegaard’s Visma team, taking up the mantle of pacing.
Also a debutant, Del Toro wasn’t able to match the more experienced GC riders, as 19-year-old Seixas was, who is continuing to impress. The Frenchman climbed to third on the stage and to fifth overall – it will be some time yet before the 45-year drought since Bernard Hinault brought France its last men’s Tour title, but Seixas has delivered on his potential up to this point.
The last name who seems well in the fight for the podium is Lidl-Trek’s Juan Ayuso, who, despite having not finished a Grand Tour GC better than 68th since 2023, is looking the best he has for years at a three-week race.
Ayuso can back himself in the time trial, but also because he has the loyal support of Mattias Skjelmose, who has been working well for the Spaniard despite some initial reservations that they would be able to click when the former broke his UAE contract to join the German team.
Vingegaard will likely be too strong once the hardest climbs come into focus, but that third spot is by no means sewn up, and any one of those mentioned could well claim it. Seixas in third at his first Tour sounds about right, though, and could be the perfect balance to the tension-draining dominance that Pogačar is currently subjecting the peloton to.
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