Pogacar hits heights to keep treble bid on track

CLOSE to where Tadej Pogacar sealed his first Tour de France victory two years ago, he moved a step nearer to a third with a stage win on La Planche des Belles Filles yesterday.

It was on the climb in the Vosges mountains that Pogacar wrestled the yellow jersey from fellow Slovenian Primoz Roglic in a dramatic time trial in 2020. This time racing continued for another kilometre, the ‘Super’ version of the climb with gravel sections and 24 per cent inclines — distance enough for the main contenders to break the heart of breakaway rider Lennard Kamna in sight of the finish and for Pogacar to pass Jonas Vingegaard on the line. There are 14 stages to go this year but barring injury or incident this looks like being the 23-year-old’s race to lose as he bids to become only the ninth man to win three or more Tours and only the seventh to win three in a row.

The UAE Team Emirates rider leads by 35 seconds from Jumbo-Visma’s Vingegaard, with Geraint Thomas of the Ineos Grenadiers up to third, 70sec down after losing 14sec in the last few metres of the summit finish.

But Pogacar’s second stage win in as many days — he took yellow from Wout Van Aert into Longwy on Thursday — again underlined his dominance.

It is only 10 years since this climb made its Tour debut, a day when Sir Bradley Wiggins moved into yellow and Chris Froome took his first stage win, but already it has seen a number of significant days in Tour history and this has the potential to be another. Pogacar said: ‘It was really difficult, especially in the end. The last part, when Jonas attacked, he was so strong but I thought, “My boys have been working all day, I have to push to the finish line”.

‘It was a big goal. Jonas is one of the strongest climbers in the world, probably the best climber in the world. A little advantage is always good but in cycling no gap is enough.’