'A brutal day' - Pogacar gets pre-Tour mountain test in Suisse finale
The Tour de Suisse had long since devolved into a public training camp for Tadej Pogačar, and he made full use of the opportunity to test himself in the high mountains on the final stage to Villars-sur-Ollon, which brought the race over the Col de la Croix three times.
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Pogačar’s UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad spent much of the day controlling the peloton, but it was Decathlon CMA CGM who took up the reins on the penultimate ascent, helping to pin back the early break’s advantage.
The Slovenian, inevitably, struck out on the final ascent, attacking with intent with a little over 8km to go. He quickly burned Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) off his wheel, catching and passing the remnants of the break on the upper reaches of the climb.
Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) was the last man standing, but Pogačar caught and passed the Frenchman in the final kilometre to claim his third stage win of the week and seal overall victory with a mammoth 6:32 gap over Carapaz.
“It was a super hard day,” Pogačar said afterwards. “The parcours was really tough and with the team we did a super job. It was getting harder and harder every lap that we did, and in the end, it was all out effort.
“Decathlon was trying to do a big pace in the last climb, so I just tried to continue and keep with this pace to the top. It was a brutal day today and it was also super hot”
Pogcar’s partner Urška Žigart broke her jaw in a crash in Locarno on stage 2 of the Tour de Suisse Women, which this year took place on the same days and in the same locations as the men’s event. The world champion said that Žigart’s plight had only heightened his motivation to win in Switzerland. “I’m happy to take the win in GC and that I can go now home to Urška,” he said.
Pogačar had already effectively sealed overall victory on the opening day of the Tour de Suisse, when he scored a crushing win after a remarkable 69km solo, but he had reason to test himself further on the final weekend of the race.
After pipping Mathieu van der Poel to time trial victory on stage 4, Pogačar was keen to make the most of Sunday’s finale around Villars-sur-Ollon, which offered the only full mountain stage of the race. The combination of the altitude gain and the searing heat made it a useful workout ahead of July.
“It was good. This is how in the Tour we will look like, probably, with this heat and so much elevation before [the final climb],” Pogačar said. “It was really good to test the legs, the heart, the lungs, everything, on the final climb. I went all out and it was really, really hard, but it was actually a nice climb.”
Pogačar is due to spend a period of time at Isola 2000 with his UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad ahead of the Tour, which gets under way in Barcelona on July 4, though he indicated that his first port of call would be a trip home to Monaco.
“Yeah, now it’s just reset a little bit at home, do a bit of specific training, and we’re off to Barcelona very fast, actually,” said Pogačar.
Race result: 2026 Tour de Suisse - Stage 5
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