Tadej Pogacar on Sunday extended his overall lead at the Tour de France to more than three minutes with a convincing second straight stage win in the Pyrenees.
The Slovenian dropped the last of his rivals with 5km to go after five more Pyrenean peaks. A valiant Jonas Vingegaard could only finish one minute, eight seconds adrift in second, with Remco Evenepoel in third at two minutes, 51 seconds on the day.
As Pogacar crossed the line at the magnificent Plateau de Beille deep in the Pyrenees, resplendent in his yellow outfit, he had racked up a second straight iconic mountaintop triumph and a 14th Tour de France stage win aged just 25.
Photo: AP
The overall leader expressed surprise at Vingegaard and his Team Visma.
“Jonas did most of the work,” Pogacar said after Visma hogged the front of the peloton most of the day.
“With today being the 14th of July you might have expected a French win, but Visma went at it very strong,” Pogacar said. “I wasn’t sure myself I’d be able to keep up the pace, but this year I’ve adopted a different approach and it seems to be working.”
The UAE Team Emirates leader’s audacious bid for a Tour de France and Giro d’Italia double in the same season seemed closer after a third stage win on this year’s Tour lifted him comfortably clear.
The last man to win such a double was Marco Pantani in 1998. On his way to his French triumph, the Italian also won a stage ended on the Plateau de Beille.
Pogacar on Sunday ascended the mountain more than four minutes faster than Pantani.
“That’s a very good sign,” UAE Team Emirates director Mauro Gianetti said.
There are two murderous mountain slogs to go in the Alps, where the weather is likely to be much hotter, which Pogacar dislikes.
The final-day lottery is a fearsome 34km individual time trial on the corniche between Monaco and Nice.
For now, the sun shines on the Slovenian as he leads the two-time defending champion Vingegaard by three minutes, nine seconds with Evenepoel on his first Tour de France in third at five minutes, 19 seconds.
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