Failing Tadej Pogacar fell from his throne: Dane Jonas Vingegaard won the eleventh stage of the Tour de France on Wednesday at the top of the Col du Granon and took control of the race.
The last five kilometers of this very hard stage (151.7 km) turned to torture for Pogacar, double winner in title. The Slovenian, only seventh on the line, lost nearly three minutes to Vingegaard, his runner-up last year on the Champs-Élysées.
Failing for the first time in the Tour since its debut in 2020, Pogacar fell to third place in the standings, 2 min 22 sec from the new wearer of the yellow jersey. He was even overtaken in the hierarchy of the moment by Romain Bardet, third in the stage behind the Colombian “condor” Nairo Quintana.
On the eve of the National Day and the arrival in Alpe d’Huez, for the other great alpine day, Bardet is 2 min 16 sec behind. This is a significant advantage for Vingegaard, who has done a double blow at altitude: at 25, he won a Tour stage for the first time and wore the yellow jersey for the first time.
– Excess jumbo –
Pogacar, attacked many times from the Galibier, paid the bill in the final climb (11.3 km at 9.2%), borrowed for the second time by the Tour. Thirty-six years after the end of the reign of Bernard Hinault in this site of austere beauty above Serre-Chevalier.
During this hot day, the Slovenian had to face an offensive from the Jumbo team very early on, which multiplied the starts. Even before the steepest slopes of the Galibier, about sixty kilometers from the finish, Vingegaard and his Slovenian teammate Primoz Roglic tried to take him in a pincer movement.
Despite the excess of his opponents, the yellow jersey reacted each time to this offensive. He then temporized to receive the reinforcement of the Polish Rafal Majka and let return many riders who had been left behind in the Galibier (G. Thomas, Quintana, A. Yates, etc.).
Disarming with relaxation at the foot of the Granon in front of the TV cameras, Pogacar suddenly let go of a violent acceleration from Vingegaard, after passing under the five-kilometre banner, as the adventure of Warren Barguil, the last survivor of the initial escape.
– Pogacar promises revenge –
He suffered a thousand deaths afterwards without managing to follow in the wake of the riders who overtook him: the Frenchman David Gaudu (fifth) and the Briton Adam Yates (sixth). Sportingly, Pogacar then went to congratulate Vingegaard who was observing his usual scrubbing session on the rollers.
“I’ve always dreamed of winning a stage of the Tour. And, in addition, I have the yellow jersey!” exclaimed the young Dane (25), revealed by his second place last year at his first appearance.
“We had a plan at the start, we wanted to make the race very tough, we thought it would work for me and for Primoz. I took time, a lot, but I couldn’t have done it without my teammates”, said Vingegaard, particularly thanking Roglic.
“They ran very well,” said Pogacar, who gave no explanation for his failure. “Maybe hypoglycemia”, ventured the young Slovenian (23), who was vindictive: “Now it’s up to me to attack. I will continue to fight. I lost three minutes , I’ll try to make up time.”
