Tadej Pogacar captured the Tour de France yellow jersey on the opening mountain stage, crossing ahead of rivals in the French Pyrenees. The UAE Emirates-XRG leader delivered his 14th victory of the season during a 121.5-mile stage that saw fan roadside access restricted near a major wildfire.
Climbing to Yellow in the Pyrenees
After just three days of racing at the Tour de France, Tadej Pogacar is already wearing yellow. The overwhelming favorite made the most of the first mountain stage to post his 22nd career stage win at cycling’s biggest race and seize the race leader’s jersey on Monday, as reported by AP.
Pogacar sprinted away from his rivals from about 200 meters to the finish line at Les Angles in the French Pyrenees, and no one could match his speed. The UAE Emirates-XRG leader held his arms out in triumph and clenched his fists at the summit as he crossed with a two-second lead over Jonas Vingegaard, Richard Carapaz, and Paul Seixas.
Pogacar took 10 bonus seconds for his win, and Vingegaard was awarded a six-second bonus for his second place. Overall, Pogacar and Vingegaard were level on time, but Pogacar’s stage win coupled with his second place in Sunday’s Stage 2 earned him the yellow jersey.
“To take the yellow jersey is a dream for any cyclist,” Pogacar said, “Every time I can get it again on my shoulders feels really special. I don’t know how long it will last but we’ll try to enjoy every moment.”
Tadej Pogacar, UAE Emirates-XRG team leader
Teamwork and a Historic Season So Far
Pogacar, who gifted victory to teammate Isaac del Toro on the second stage, has crushed his rivals this season and chases a record-equaling fifth Tour victory. The only four riders to have won five Tours are Belgian Eddy Merckx, Spaniard Miguel Indurain, and Frenchmen Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault. Pogacar thanked Del Toro for his efforts in the final ascent.
“It’s thanks to Isaac that I got extra power today. He committed more than 100 percent on the final climb,” he said. “The team feels super good and when we can win we have to take the opportunity. We tried, we gave it all and we won.”
Tadej Pogacar, UAE Emirates-XRG team leader
Monday’s win marked his 14th victory this season, a run that includes general classification wins at the Tour de Suisse and the Tour de Romandie, as well as one-day triumphs at Liege-Bastogne-Liege, the Tour of Flanders, Milan San Remo, and Strade Bianche.
Rival Reactions and Wildfire Restrictions
Vingegaard, of the Visma-Lease a Bike team, is looking to win the Tour for the third time after triumphing in 2022 and 2023. The Danish rider had taken the yellow jersey on Saturday after leading his Visma-Lease a Bike team to victory in the opening-day time trial around Barcelona.
The three-week race hit the mountains early on the 121.5-mile third stage, starting from Granollers in Spain and concluding with a short but sharp uphill dart to Les Angles in the French Pyrenees. Pogacar’s team worked hard to keep the day’s breakaway on a short leash, and the last remaining escapee, Alex Baudin, was caught with about 6 miles to go.
The stage finish was about 37 miles from a large wildfire that has burned large swathes of land. As a result, once the peloton reached France for the last 25 miles, the publicity caravan — a 6-mile-long procession of sponsor vehicles that precedes the race — would not operate. Only riders and vehicles essential to the race were allowed on the route, and spectators were asked not to gather on the roadside or at the finish area.
Once in France, the number of fans along the roads — usually present in their thousands — decreased, though there were still spectators when the riders passed through villages further down the road.
Later in the race progression, Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz won stage 18 of the Tour de France following a commanding breakaway. The EF Education-Easypost rider brilliantly accelerated away from his rivals with intuitive and canny riding, finishing 45 seconds ahead of Switzerland’s Mauro Schmid of Jayco-Alula and Matteo Jorgenson of Visma-Lease a Bike. Meanwhile, sickness appears to be making its way through overall leader Tadej Pogacar’s UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad after key domestique Brandon McNulty abandoned the race mid-stage.
Slovenian Pogacar remains in the yellow jersey by four minutes 32 seconds over Belgium’s Remco Evenepeol of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe and six minutes 51 seconds over UAE team-mate Isaac del Toro of Mexico. Thursday’s mountainous 185.2km stage from Voiron to Ocieres Merlette marked the first of three gruelling days in the French Alps, and several riders formed a number of breakaways on a hot day on the road. But Carapaz’s combative riding was the best to watch. With his gold chain and giant crucifix swinging from side to side, he danced on the pedals to try to launch himself away from the hard-charging Valentin Paret-Peintre of Soudal Quick Step – who is wearing the King of the Mountains jersey on behalf of KOM leader Pogacar.
When Paret-Peintre avoided helping the pair extend their lead over Jorgenson and Schmid, Carapaz virtually stopped in the steep tarmac, baulking Paret-Peintre, and as the Frenchman then assumed a period of recovery, Carapaz launched again, leaving an exhausted and out-of-rhythm Paret-Peintre broken. Denmark’s Mads Pedersen extended his lead in the green jersey classification to 32 points, but remains vulnerable to Belgium’s Jasper Philipsen. Pogacar, 27, retains the King of the Mountain jersey, but only by a point, as does Del Toro in the white young rider’s jersey.
Sources: bbc.co.uk.
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