THOMAS HAS A BIG MOUNTAIN TO CLIMB STILL
GERAINT THOMAS moved into the top three of the Tour de France – but Tadej Pogacar looks invincible after his second consecutive stage win.
Britain’s 2018 Yellow Jersey winner rode impressively to finish fifth on the punishing 25 percent ramp stage at La Planche des Belles Filles.
But defending champion Pogacar was still too good for his rivals as he pipped Dane Jonas Vingegaard and fellow Slovenian Primoz Roglic to strengthen his lead in the general classification.
And the podium places a week in – Pogacar, Vingegaard, Thomas – may well stay the same all the way to Paris in a fortnight.
Thomas said: “I’d love to say I held a bit back. I’d rode the climb and the last bit I tried to hold back a bit because it is so steep at the end.
“You don’t want to blow there, basically. I judged it all right and it’s just a shame that Roglic came past me – but it was nice to be in the mix.
“It’s good that we [the Ineos Grenadiers riders] are all there going into the next two weeks as well. We haven’t even done a proper mountain stage yet.
“We will try to use those numbers sensibly and not just attack for the hell of it and see what we can do.”
Pogacar admitted he had been eyeing the 109-mile trail from Tomblaine to La Planche as a ‘moving’ day to gain command of the Yellow Jersey.
He said: “It was in my mind already for a really long time, maybe since the route was announced, and it was difficult to win today.
“Right now Vingegaard is one of the strongest climbers in the world – probably the best climber in the world – and a really compact rider with a really strong team around him.”