Pogacar engages cruise control: stage 13 Domestique Debrief

The central act of the Pyrenean trilogy saw the riders take to the slopes for an uphill struggle, quite literally. With soaring temperatures, riding up a Pyrenean col against the clock probably wasn’t at the top of many of the Tour de France peloton’s wishlist for a Friday afternoon in July. Sizzling at 36 degrees, there was nowhere to hide on stage 13’s race of truth, where pacing would be integral and gear choices proved less significant than on the flat. 

Sprinters, rouleurs and key domestiques measured their efforts, doing the bare minimum they needed to do to survive the time cut, which had been generously extended to be a bit more forgiving. With the majority of the bunch simply surviving, rather than thriving, we need only zoom in on a select few, to draw today’s conclusions.

Lucas Plapp has proven himself to be a tough customer, but he’s somewhat erratic, going from anonymous to top of his game from day to day. A time trial specialist, and a strong climber, the Australian national champion owned the first half of the day, putting in a mature and controlled performance to set the high benchmark which held for a very long time. 

The quality of his ride was put into perspective as the top ten on GC began to roll through and even some of them were unable to better Plapp’s time – Matteo Jorgenson, who had the better of Plapp at both intermediate time checks, came over the line five seconds behind the Jayco-AlUla man.

In second for much of the day, Lenny Martinez committed to honouring the polka dot jersey he was almost guaranteed to lose at the end of the day with aero details and a special bike with a disc wheel. While French climbers have notoriously struggled in the time trial discipline over the years, Martinez has proven himself to be reasonably strong against the clock, and on stage 13 in his favoured territory of the mountains he mounted a strong defence, finishing ninth on the stage, just behind Adam Yates who himself put in a really strong ride, and finished as the strongest Frenchman on the day.

Finally, Oscar Onley once again warrants a mention. He continues to impress on his second appearance at the Tour, and was able to put in a strong enough ride to finish seventh on the day, and rise into fifth on GC, swapping places with Kévin Vauquelin. As each day passes by, the 22-year-old from Scotland is looking more and more like the real deal.

Lest we forget, Primož Roglič is a time trial specialist. He won gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics on a course with a similar type of climb, although the total effort was almost four times yesterday's distance, but there is no doubt that this is the type of ride against the clock that Roglič relishes. 

It was clear to see the Slovenian was right at home, his position dialled in and his riding style smooth, an assured performance by contrast with his somewhat lacklustre performances on regular road stages at the Tour thus far. 

With the help of aero specialist Dan Bigham, the Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe riders had the advantage of a wealth of expertise, and this was borne out in the results of both Roglič and Florian Lipowitz, the two team leaders finishing third and fourth on the stage, only behind the two current goliaths of GC racing. The German logged a solid ride, out-classing the rider with whom he’s vying for both the final spot on the GC podium and the white young rider’s jersey; though he didn’t do quite enough to depose Evenepoel on the day, he edges ever closer, just six seconds in arrears of the Belgian with a great deal more climbing to go.

Another day, another struggle for Remco Evenepoel. The Belgian is clearly suffering, 13 stages into this Tour, as the terrain rises and the heat along with it. Despite the fact he is world and Olympic champion in the discipline, mountain time trials are not his forte, and to add insult to injury he suffered a mechanical issue in the closing stages of his effort. Though he was able to ride his way through it, the problem seemed to derail him, his head dropping as he pedalled squares pushing toward the summit, with Vingegaard closing him down behind. 

Evenepoel could manage just 12th position at the finish, and though he hangs onto his podium spot by the fingertips, the deficit to Pogačar is now 7:24, with 3:17 between the Soudal-QuickStep man and Vingegaard in second. He really will need to look over his shoulder now, with Lipowitz closing in rapidly behind him.

And so to the two protagonists of the race. Jonas Vingegaard, who chose to stick with the ridiculous Giro aero helmet, would have been hoping he could make half as much impact on today’s mountain time trial as he made on stage 16 in 2023. He was able to best Pogačar at the Dauphine time trial in June but it’s becoming clearer that this was just a blip, and any remaining psychological advantage from this victory has surely been wiped out

Down but not out, Vingegaard showed real fight today, powering up the final steep section of the course out of the saddle, closing down the struggling Evenepoel and passing him before the line to prove himself categorically the second best rider at this race.

As for Pogačar, insert more superlatives here. It was his third stint in yellow, as he chased his fourth stage win, his left arm still strapped after his stage 11 crash.  Opting for a road bike for comfort and consistency, Pogačar looked supremely at ease, his composure never wavering, seemingly effortless throughout where swathes of riders before him had fought with the gradient and the conditions. The Slovenian put yet more time into Jonas Vingegaard – another 36 seconds to be precise – taking his lead over four minutes. In the process, he becomes the youngest rider ever to reach 21 stage wins. Not too shabby. 

With eight stages remaining, the differences we are seeing on GC in this year’s race are truly astonishing. In the past decade, the time gap between 1st and 10th on GC at this point in the race has never been this great – it currently stands at 14:15 between Pogačar at the top of the pile and Matteo Jorgenson in 10th – and that’s without any of the biggest mountain stages on the route.

As the years pass by the gaps become more and more stark between the best riders (or perhaps rider, singular) of the current crop, and the rest. As we are so often told, when commentators are floundering for new and more imaginative ways to describe the exploits of the UAE Team Emirates superstar, we are witnessing history in the making. Exactly which records will fall next, and how quickly, is entirely in Pogačar’s hands – he holds all the cards, and as far as the race as a contest goes, it’s all over bar the shouting.