The Slovenian went to the mat a few moments after a huge fright from the Yellow Jersey on the descent of the Col de Spandelle, the scene of a superb image with the handshake of the two men.
Special envoy to Hautacam
Tadej Pogacar had promised that he ” would attack hard » in the last stage of the Pyrenees to try to get Jona Vingegaard. The Slovenian kept his word by attacking on the climb to the Col de Spandelle several times, followed each time like his shadow by the Dane. But it is in the descent that the outcome of the Tour de France almost changed, this Thursday, before the ascent to Hautacam.
As the two men raced down the hill at high speed, Jonas Vingegard was on the verge of seeing his hopes of victory go up in smoke when he lost his balance in a bend. Thanks to an impressive balancing act, the Scandinavian managed to catch up with the trajectory in extremis.
In the seconds that followed, it was the turn of the double winner of the Tour de France to pass very close to disaster by coming out too wide of a curve. Both wheels of his bike bit into the side of the road and when the leader of the UAE Team Emirates formation slammed the pedal again, his bike skidded. Pogacar fell, rubbing his left thigh on the road. With his shorts torn and his skin scratched, he was able to quickly set off again down the slope to catch up with the leader in the general classification.
LIVE – Tour de France: Pogacar attacks and falls, Vingegaard awaits him … the final battle is underway in the Pyrenees
He did not take advantage of Pogacar’s misadventure to attack, quite the contrary. The Dane very sportingly waited for his opponent who warmly thanked him with a handshake. The mark of the greats before the final explanation in the 13.6 km at 7.8% average leading to Hautacam.
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