Pogacar win not enough for yellow

TADEJ POGACAR beat Jonas Vingegaard in an uphill sprint to claim his third stage win of this Tour de France but could not shake the Dane’s grip on the yellow jersey as the pair left all other rivals behind on the road to Peyragudes.

Stage 17 came down to a slow-motion battle with the pair exchanging blows before Pogacar’s landed decisively. Yet, beyond the four extra bonus seconds that came the Slovenian’s way, there was nothing to separate the top two in the general classification. With Geraint Thomas losing two minutes after being distanced on the penultimate climb, the duo are realistically the only riders still in contention to be wearing yellow in Paris on Sunday. ‘How the team rode today to take the stage win was incredible,’ said Pogacar, who has now won a remarkable nine Tour stages at the age of 23.