Tour de France: Tadej Pogacar wins in yellow at the top of the Pyrenees

Published on : 07/14/2021 – 17:21

Tadej Pogacar flies over the Tour de France as he flew over the clouds of the Col du Portet. On the 17th stage, the leader of the general classification consolidated his lead over his opponents by beating his direct opponents, Richard Carapaz and Jonas Vingegaard, at the finish line. On the eve of the last mountain stage in Luz-Ardiden, the yellow jersey seems untouchable.

“It will be the hardest day on the Tour,” the Slovenian prodigy had nevertheless assured the day before. However, he has not shown it as he evolves with insolent ease on this Great Loop, after having just won his second victory in the 2021 edition.

A stage led by the French

On this national holiday, the French launched hostilities to move forward. Pierre Rolland, Valentin Madouas attacked the first but the good shot was made up of four other tricolors: Anthony Pérez (Cofidis), Anthony Turgis (TotalÉnergies), Dorian Godon (AG2R Citroën), Maxime Chevalier (B&B Hotels p / b KTM), accompanied by Danny Van Poppel (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) and Lukas Pöstlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe).

The big maneuvers for the polka dot jersey begin at the foot of the Col de Peyresourde, the first pass of the day.

Nairo Quintana leaves the peloton, led by Elie Gesbert, tries to launch the big maneuvers for the polka dot jersey. However, his competitor for the best climber’s jersey, Wout Poels, clings to the luggage rack along with Frenchman Pierre Latour. But the peloton refuses to let the four men go. Only Pierre Latour insisted but was caught on the descent.

As the second listed difficulty approaches, the Val Louron-Azet pass, it becomes clear that the favorites and the yellow jersey Tadej Pogacar do not intend to leave the day’s stage to the escaped men. The advance, eight minutes at its peak, melts like snow on top of neighboring mountains. The breakaway broke up in the face of danger and Anthony Perez, regional of the stage, isolated himself in the lead. Dorian Godon makes the junction in the descent.

The two men are greeted by a real human tide in the justice of the day. From Toulouse, the Basque country, Brittany but also Belgium, Colombia and Slovenia … Thousands of people came to cheer the runners in the highest peak to date in the Pyrenees. Anthony Perez, carried by his supporters, tries everything for everything and abandons his companion from AG2R-La Mondiale. A real bet with only three minutes ahead of the peloton, which the yellow jersey Tadej Pogacar makes whip by his teammates. In vain, he was caught by the favorites at 8.3 km. The French will still be waiting for their second victory in the 2021 edition.

The members of the top 5 are among themselves to explain themselves and Tadej Pogacar immediately places a first acceleration. Ben O’Connor cracks first, followed by Rigoberto Uran.

As the three leading men enter the haze from the top, the yellow jersey races ahead of the group. He tries to decramp the attacks by increasing the attacks. Without success. Richard Carapaz places his attack before the tunnel located 1 km from the summit. He leaves Vingegaard there.

In the sprint, however, the Slovenian is better than his Ecuadorian competitor. Tadej Pogacar carries the blow 130 m from the finish and wins the stage.