Mohoric takes Tour limelight from fellow Slovenian Pogacar after Roglic is dropped
Matej Mohoric celebrated a solo victory as the longest stage of the Tour de France in 21 years delivered another shake-up of the fight for the yellow jersey.
Mathieu van der Poel extended his lead in yellow after getting into a 29-man breakaway which tested the resources of defending champion Tadej Pogacar and his UAE Team Emirates squad to the limit over 249 kilometres between Vierzon and Le Creusot.
Pogacar came home as part of a much-reduced group of contenders more than five minutes after Mohoric and three-and-a-half minutes after Van der Poel, dropping from second to fifth.
Primoz Roglic, seen as Pogacar's main rival, appears out of the game, dropped on the climbs late in the day and conceding almost four minutes to the other contenders.
Geraint Thomas, another
Matej Mohoric celebrates victim of the crash-strewn stage three, was also dropped late on just as his Ineos Grenadiers team-mate Richard Carapaz was attacking, but the Welshman was able to ride back on as Carapaz was reeled in before the line.
But Van der Poel's remarkable debut Tour continues as the Dutchman now leads by 30 seconds from Roglic’s Jumbo-visma team-mate Wout van Aert, with Deceuninckquick-step’s Kasper Asgreen and Team Bahrain’s Mohoric moving up to third and fourth respectively.
Pogacar sits three minutes 43 seconds down in fifth, still the best placed of the main favourites, but there will be questions over his supporting cast after they were made to chase the breakaway for the bulk of fiveand-a-half testing hours in the saddle.
The news was far worse for Roglic, however. The Jumbovisma rider's time trial performance on Wednesday suggested he had survived the impact of a crash earlier in the week, but the pain was surely felt here as he lost almost four minutes and dropped down to 33rd.
Thomas, nursing the shoulder he dislocated on Monday, said: “I didn't want to go full 100 per cent (on the climb). I was still in contact with 200 metres to go so tried to pace myself a bit and I came back. I’m suffering but hopefully I’ll feel better soon, though maybe not with the next two days to come (in the mountains).”