In the Pyrenees, Pogacar and Vingegaard are engaged in another battle. At the first mountain finish of the 111th Tour, the man in the yellow jersey prevails – and collects valuable seconds.
Tadej Pogacar slapped his chest with both hands and celebrated his significant partial success in the Pyrenees against the competition of defending champion Jonas Vingegaard with a shout of joy. Shortly before the first mountain finish of the 111th Tour de France, he had made an inimitable attack. “The attack was instinctive. We wanted the stage win,” said the two-time Tour winner.
“That was ideal today,” enthused the superstar. “It’s really good news how it turned out.” The exceptional rider crossed the finish line in Pla d’Adet as the day’s winner with a comfortable lead of 39 seconds including bonuses ahead of the Dane Vingegaard.
In the tough mountain ride over 151.9 kilometers on the 14th stage, which started in Pau, he even finished 1:10 minutes ahead of the Belgian Remco Evenepoel. The wearer of the white jersey for the best young rider came third.
In the overall ranking, Pogacar is now 1:57 minutes ahead of Vingegaard and 2:22 ahead of Evenepoel. The time trial world champion lost his second place overall and lost it to last year’s Tour winner Vingegaard.
Niermann: “Accept that someone was better”
Pogacar celebrated his 13th stage win in the Tour de France, his second in this year’s Tour. “When I was a child, I could never imagine winning a stage in the Tour. It was like another planet,” he said.
To the chagrin of his competitors, he has now set foot on this planet more often. “We have to accept that someone was better. We knew 100 percent that Pogacar would attack,” said Grischa Niermann, the sports director of the Vingegaard team. “The conditions are like this right now, we have to accept that. We hope that there will be stages where we can win back time. But at the moment it doesn’t look like that, that has to be said clearly,” admitted the ex-professional.
Politt keeps up the pace
Pogacar’s German helper Nils Politt kept the pace of the main field high for a long time. It was only 4.6 kilometers from the finish that Pogacar attacked Vingegaard. Little by little he gained valuable seconds on his competitors. Vingegaard visibly tried hard, but could not stay on the rear wheel.
Both exceptional riders have already had a number of duels in this year’s tour. Pogacar beat Vingegaard by a few seconds on the Col du Galibier. The reigning Tour champion, however, remained calm. In the days that followed, he countered Pogacar’s attacks and increased the nervousness of the man in yellow with his defensive riding style. He complained, but Vingegaard defended his team’s tactics. In the Le Lioran ski area, the 27-year-old even narrowly beat Pogacar and took the stage win.
Corona symptoms at Pidcock
The first of two Pyrenees crackers at the weekend featured two top-category mountain classifications. The Tour classic Col du Tourmalet alone was a tough one. The riders had to overcome an average gradient of just over seven percent over 19 kilometers. The tough finale on the Pla d’Adet included almost eight percent over just over ten kilometers.
Tom Pidcock was spared from the ordeal. However, to the chagrin of the one-time British Tour stage winner. His team announced shortly before the start of the stage that the 24-year-old was going home because of corona symptoms. His Ineos team was considered very cautious. Employees had recently been wearing masks. There are currently no set corona measures in place for the Tour. Several riders in the main field are said to be suffering from corona.
An even more demanding Pyrenees stage awaits on Sunday for the national holiday. The queen stage, starting in Loudenvielle and finishing on the Plateau de Beille, is considered the greatest challenge of this year’s tour with more than 4,800 meters of elevation and 197.7 kilometers.
Source: Stern
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