Already winner of two stages in this Tour de France, Tadej Pogacar already seemed to have got his hands on a third big loop in a row. Bluff? Approaching the Col du Granon, Wednesday July 13, the last of the three major difficulties on the program, the Slovenian even offered himself the pleasure of sending signs of relaxation to the camera.
At the finish, the wearer of the jersey ends up in trouble, nearly three minutes behind Jonas Vingegaard, winner of the day and new leader of the general classification. The Dane took full advantage of the attacks orchestrated all afternoon by his team, the Jumbo-Visma, eventually ridding Tadej Pogacar of his last lieutenants.
Tadej Pogacar two minutes from the yellow jersey
The double title holder had however more than resisted in the Col du Télégraphe then in the Galibier. Even allowing himself to skim in the group of favorites, 47 km from the finish. Only Jonas Vigegaard and Geraint Thomas, intermittently, managing to follow him. Before a regrouping on the approach to the Col de Granon.
It was on this last climb of eleven kilometers that the group exploded. And Tadej Pogacar saw his competitors soar. In the last six kilometers, the Colombian Nairo Quintana then the Frenchman Romain Bardet left. But it was Jonas Vingegaard’s acceleration that definitively sealed the fate of the stage. And maybe that of the Tour.
The Dane finished alone at the top of the Col du Granon. He now leads the general classification, more than two minutes ahead of Romain Bardet and Tadej Pogacar, who narrowly remained on the podium. Another Frenchman in the top 10, David Gaudu is seventh, more than three minutes from the new yellow jersey.
