With just one week of racing left in the Tour de France, the duel for the ages between Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar could still go either way.
Vingegaard on Sunday kept intact his 10-second overall lead over the two-time champion as Dutch veteran Wout Poels soloed to victory after a tough trek in the Alps with a mountaintop finish.
The 35-year-old Poels, who was part of an early breakaway in the 179km 15th stage, took advantage of a short, but very steep ascent located just before the final 7km climb leading to the finish line to move away.
Photo: AFP
Wout van Aert, a key teammate of Vingegaard, finished second, more than two minutes behind, with Mathieu Burgaudeau completing the stage podium.
Locked in a pulsating fight for the yellow jersey since the start of the race, Vingegaard and Pogacar once again stayed together and kept an eye on each other throughout the day in the group of main contenders.
The two riders have been a cut above the rest of the field over the past two weeks — third-placed Carlos Rodriguez lags 5 minutes, 21 seconds behind — and again proved to be the strongest of all the main contenders ahead of yesterday’s second rest day.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Pogacar tried to sprint away from his rival 900m from the line, but Vingegaard, the defending champion, immediately jumped on his wheel and did not lose any time. Their duel is to resume in today’s time trial.
“I felt that Jonas was super good and I knew that I couldn’t really drop him,” Pogacar said.
“The climb was too easy. I know the time trial pretty good. I hope it suits me pretty well,” he said.
After the time trial, the pair have two more mountain stages to settle their exciting rivalry before the race concludes in Paris on Sunday.
For Poels, it had been a long wait before he finally claimed a first stage win at the Tour de France, after serving for years as a super domestique in support of the leaders of Team Sky and Ineos. He joined the Bahrain Victorious team at the end of the 2019 season.
“I really love this moment. I always dreamed of winning a stage in the Tour de France,” Poels said. “I really enjoyed my time with Team Sky. It was an incredible experience, but yet I never could fight for stage win.”
It was the second stage win for Bahrain-Victorious, who have been mourning the loss of Gino Mader, who died last month from injuries suffered in a crash at the Tour de Suisse.
“Obviously, with Gino, it has a special meaning,” Poels added.
A day after a mass crash forced several riders out of the race, there was another huge pileup after 52km of racing when a spectator on the side of the road inadvertently touched American rider Sepp Kuss — a key teammate of Vingegaard — and sent him to the ground.
Jumbo-Visma said Dylan van Baarle and Nathan van Hooydonck were among those who hit the tarmac. Vingegaard was riding close to his teammates, but escaped unscathed.
“There was a narrowing in a town, just a spectator was out in the road and just clipped my handlebar,” Kuss said. “Luckily I’m okay, I think. I hope that the other guys in the crash are alright. It’s not ideal.”
Riders got back on their bikes and returned to the main peloton before the first big climb of the day, the Col de La Forclaz.
Riding at the front, the group of breakaway riders hoping for a stage win increased the gap with the peloton, building a maximum lead of 8 minutes, 40 seconds.
Rui Costa attacked from that group on the steep 11.3km Col de la Croix Fry, but could not reach the summit alone.
Marc Soler then made a move on the next climb, the Col des Aravis, with his attack left unanswered until Van Aert sprinted out of the group. Poels reacted quickly to catch him in the downhill.
Van Aert and Soler were dropped on the Cote des Amerands. Poels had excellent legs on the last climb and delivered an impressive final effort to raise his arms in triumph.
“I only started to believe in it in the final kilometers,” he said. “I had to go full gas. It was amazing, amazing. Gino was helping me today.”
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