Tadej Pogacar takes the yellow jersey and knocks out the Tour

Published on : 03/07/2021 – 17:37

Pogacar, the outgoing winner of the Tour, stunned his opponents in the last two climbs of this first and rainy alpine day, the Romme and Colombière passes. The Slovenian knocked out his rivals from the first mountain stage of the Tour. He widened monumental gaps, more than three minutes over his direct rivals, three days after having already gained the upper hand in the time trial.

The young Slovenian, 22, took over from Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel, who had worn the yellow jersey since Sunday. The leader of the UAE team donned his third yellow jersey. Last year, he had donned the leader’s jersey after the time trial at La Planche des Belles Filles, just on the eve of the arrival on the Champs-Élysées.

At Le Grand-Bornand, Pogacar took 4th place on the stage behind the Spaniard Ion Izagirre and the Canadian Michael Woods, ahead of about 40 seconds by Teuns.

The second of Teuns

Pogacar, sure of his strength, attacked twice in the Col de Romme, approaching the last 30 kilometers. On his second start, he left Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz, the only one to have painfully kept contact the first time.

In three kilometers, the Slovenian left Carapaz behind by more than a minute. Party in a “one man show”, he joined and dropped off the survivors of the breakaway before the last descent he negotiated with caution.

A hectic first half of the stage, marked by numerous attacks, very quickly condemned the Welshman Geraint Thomas, left behind on the first hill at the exit of Oyonnax, then the Slovenian Primoz Roglic, released after about thirty kilometers.

Dylan Teuns, 29, has meanwhile won his second success in the Tour, two years after that acquired at the top of La Planche des Belles Filles in the Vosges. He gave the Bahrain team their second victory in two days, following the Slovenian Matej Mohoric on Friday at Le Creusot.

Sunday, the 9th stage, the most difficult in the Alps, includes 51 kilometers of climb on the 144.9 kilometer course between Cluses (Haute-Savoie) and Tignes (Savoie) where the Tour returns after a missed finish in 2019 due to a mudslide making the road impassable.

(With AFP)