Pogǎcar extends lead on Vingegaard in Le Lioran
Slovenian adds another 44 seconds to Tour de France lead
Does today’s Tour de France stage count as a win for Jonas Vingegaard? I mean, he lost, came in sixth — are we redefining triumph?
At the end of the day, he’d lost another 44 seconds on Tadej Pogǎcar (UAE Team Emirates - XRG), who’s now crushing him by 3:36.
Yet, somehow it feels like a victory for the Dane. After all, he didn’t lose three and a half minutes like he did on the Tourmalet climb. By that math, yeah, could have been worse.
Despite the smackdown, the ever-optimistic, manifesting-like-mad Vingegaard summed up events as “not a bad day.”
Fact is, Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) has wonderful memories of this same Le Lioran stage from back in the 2024 Tour. That was when Pogǎcar attacked from far out but the Dane protected his yellow jersey, fighting back and winning the two-man sprint.
Not today, however. No warm, fuzzy memories were made.
On the category Col de Pertus, after pretending to perhaps be on a off day, Pogǎcar fired his trademark missile shot. Everyone behind waves goodbye as Vingegaard does damage control. It’s another “Oh, shit” moment.
It takes just over a kilometer for the Slovenian to catch and blow by a valiant Richard Carapaz (EF Education EasyPost) who just moments before had a lead of 48 seconds.
Meanwhile, Vingegaard settles into his familiar role as the Second Best Grand Tour Rider of this generation. He holds the gap between 20 and 30 seconds but he’s on the limit, maxed out.
Fortunately for him, a chase group of Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek), Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM), and Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe) joins the Dane. A reinforcement in firepower that stops the deficit from exploding. Remco Evenepoel had been dropped but would somehow recover and also catch back on.
Nevertheless, on the final category 3 Col de Font de Cère, Pogǎcar takes another ten seconds, crossing the line with his 25th Tour stage victory.
It doesn’t even seem to matter that his hotel the previous night had no functioning air conditioners or that UAE’s new race radios malfunctioned late in the stage. No misfortune seems to rattle him. He sleeps deeper, recovers faster and climbs like nobody ever had.
A gassed Vingegaard can’t even manage a sprint and finishes 7th, as Evenepoel takes second and French wonderkid Paul Seixas races to third. End result for Jonas Vingegaard: another 44 seconds behind.
This is the strange Tour de France world Tadej Pogacar has created with his singular dominance. The finest climbers in the world count it as “not a bad day” when they lose another good-sized block of time.
Vingegaard remains relentlessly optimistic, insisting once again that his “legs are getting better and better.” He better tell his legs to hurry up because a “not bad day” is not good enought to win le Tour.