Tour de France: at the top of the Grand Colombier, Pogacar accelerates and gets a little closer to Vingegaard

2023-07-14 20:35:38

Slipped into the breakaway, Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos-Grenadiers) won alone at the top of the Grand Colombier. The Briton took off alone 11.5 kilometers from the finish and perfectly resisted the return of the peloton, which did not set a very impressive pace. The favorites only discovered themselves in the last hectometres, insufficient to play for victory. Tadej Pogacar finished third, behind Maxime Van Gils and four seconds ahead of Jonas Vingegaard.

This very timid ascent of the Grand Colombier by the two favorites caused only a few changes in the general classification. Thanks to the bonuses, Pogacar regains eight seconds on Vingegaard and now points to nine seconds. Jai Hindley retains his third place.

Des UAE-Emirates dominants

The announced duel between Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar in the Grand Colombier began with a team race. While the Slovenian could still count on four teammates (Soler, Yates, Grossschartner and Majka) ten kilometers from the summit, the Dane already had only two left (Van Baarle and Kuss). The top 10 candidates dropped out one by one. Ben O’Connor and Romain Bardet were the first, before Emanuel Buchmann and Thibaut Pinot.

In front, 19 riders had taken the breakaway after 25 kilometers of racing. July 14 obliges, the French Quentin Pacher, Pierre Latour and Adrien Petit were at the front. But the gap never exceeded four minutes, Tadej Pogacar’s teammates imposing a steady tempo throughout the stage.

Under the impetus of the UAE-Emirates from the foot of the Grand Colombier, the lead men’s lead slowly faded. Quentin Pacher tried to go it alone, without success. He did not resist the steep slopes facing the riders, unlike Michal Kwiatkowski, who was obviously the strongest in this leading group. The Briton finally won with 47 seconds ahead of Maxime Van Gils.

The battle between the two big favorites of this round was finally launched only a few hundred meters from the finish. After launching Adam Yates up front, Tadej Pogacar placed a sharp attack that overwhelmed Jonas Vingegaard. The Slovenian, third, takes four seconds from the Dane on the pedal and four more via bonuses. He is therefore only nine seconds behind in the general classification.