Man could say: The mountain gave birth and gave birth to a mouse. How many mountains and what a huge effort for four seconds: Tadej Pogacar won the duel with his rival Jonas Vingegaard on the 17th stage of the Tour de France over 129.7 kilometers from Saint-Gaudens to Peyragudes on Wednesday.
But it was only in the final meters that he fought the Dane down on the steep airfield in Peyragudes. He had won the stage, but Vingegaard could also feel like a winner. He didn’t get into trouble at any stage of the race and losing the sprint to the Pogacar was something he could live with.
Two minutes ahead
The four seconds probably too, that will be shown in the final accounts on Sunday in Paris. Pogacar was given a ten-second time credit for first place – it was his third stage win of the Tour – and Vingegaard was credited with six seconds for second. Last year’s winner from Team UAE has caught up four seconds in the overall standings. Vingegaard is now 2:18 minutes ahead.
And even if Pogacar, who looked more exhausted than the Dane at the finish line, threw his arms up in celebration, the result was probably not what the Slovenian and his team had planned. UAE controlled the entire race, made it incredibly fast with the helpers Mikkel Bjerg and Brandon McNulty, so that Vingegaard had already lost all helpers of his team Jumbo-Visma on the penultimate climb.
The performance of the UAE team was amazing considering Pogacar started with only three assistants after Rafal Majka and Marc Soler were unable to compete in stage 17, Soler had to step down the day before with an upset stomach and had fallen out of the time limit.
The chain on Majka’s bike broke on Tuesday and the force of the kick into nowhere had hit his knee against the frame. The result was a knee injury that ended the tour adventure for him and Pogacar took an important helper. But Bjerk and McNulty jumped into the breach. “We can be satisfied because there were only four of us today,” said Pogacar at the finish. “I’m glad I won the stage, that’s all we could do. I’m happy for today and tomorrow is another day.” A day with the hardest Pyrenees stage of this tour. When asked if he thinks he can still win the Tour, Pogacar replied: “Yes, I’m optimistic. It will be harder tomorrow and we will try.”
From the first climb of the day up to the Aspin, a 1490 meter high Pyrenees classic, Simon Geschke from Freiburg had taken three points for the mountain classification, a valuable addition to his points tally, which fueled the hope that he would be in the dotted jersey of the best in the mountains could actually make it to Paris. The decision will be made this Thursday. It had been 53 kilometers to the foot of the Aspin, a distance during which a bitter struggle ensued for a breakaway, with all attacks repelled from the field.
We headed towards Aspin at high speed, and even on the ascent we went at a pace that anxious leisure riders sometimes go downhill at. Pogacar lost another helper on that first climb when Marc Hirschi fell back. On the second mountain of the day, the Houquette d’Ancivizan, Bjerk increased the speed on the instructions of his boss so much that the group of favorites melted down to almost 25 riders. And the wild ride continued to the next mountain in the first category, the Col de Val Lourot-Azen (10.7 kilometers with an average gradient of 6.8 percent).
The rest of Pogacar’s squad continued to push hard, with Brandon McNulty replacing Bjerg at the accelerator – a brutal elimination ensued that even Vingegaard’s super-helper, the man in the green jersey, Wout van Aert, was unable to cope with. One after the other fell behind, finally Vingegaard only had one colleague at his side, Sepp Kuss. There were only five in the group of favorites. Vingegaard, Pogacar, McNulty, Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), and Kiss.
The worst climb
At the summit, Vingegaard was also separated from his last helper. Pogacar’s core team had done a great job.. And then there were only three: McNulty, Pogacar and Vingegaard. McNulty had sifted everyone else out with his pace. And the last climb, the worst, the drive up to 1580 meters to Peyraguides with an average gradient of 7.8 percent was yet to come. But before that, 20 kilometers from the finish line, there is a descent that has the reputation of being extremely dangerous. And the question: Would Pogacar attack here, he is considered an excellent downhiller. When would he attack, when would he dare to try to catch up on the overall standings?
The three of them plunged into the descent, controlled and without risk. The 24-year-old Texan McNulty rode farther up the field and also led the trio up to fifty meters from the finish line on the final, decisive climb. Pogacar won the final duel with his last strength. The continuation follows on Thursday on the 18th stage over 143.2 kilometers from Lourdes to Hautacam with a mountain finish of the highest category.
