'I was waiting for the last 2km' - Pogacar bides his time before usual Tour show

His UAE Team Emirates-XRG supporting cast largely faded from view on the final climb of the day, with even Isaac del Toro betraying signs of suffering, and an emboldened Jonas Vingegaard (Visma Lease a Bike) stretched out the GC group with a view to testing Pogačar.

But on the stiffest section of the climb, Pogačar’s usual strength was just as overwhelming as ever. He punched clear 1.5km from the summit and then extended his advantage on the plateau to the finish at Le Markstein.

Pogačar won the stage by 38 seconds from his teammate Del Toro and he added almost another minute to his buffer over Vingegaard atop the overall standings, which now stands at 4:30.

“I knew that Isaac was maybe not 100% himself, so I was waiting for the last 2km to see if there's going to be any movements,” Pogačar said. “Decathlon and then Jonas did a really, really hard pace on the climb. They were dropping guys one by one, but I felt good, so I said I would try in the last 2km. I know the climb very well, and there was such a crowd that it just gives you an additional boost to go to the top. I gave it a go today. I had good feelings, so I grabbed it and took the opportunity.”

Pogačar has made a habit of seizing every chance that comes his way at the Tour and across the calendar. This was his fourth stage win of this year’s race, his 25th in total and the 125th victory of a career that seems to keep on scaling new heights. There seems to be little doubt that Pogačar will win a record-equalling fifth Tour in Paris next week.

“It was a really, really perfect day,” Pogačar said. “We marked this stage since the beginning. I know this stage very well. It’s beautiful, just an incredible area for cycling, and I have good memories from here. Today, as a team, we had another one.”

Pogačar had 20 seconds on Vingegaard and Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) at the top of Le Markstein, and he doubled that buffer on the undulating 6km run to the line, even if he wasn’t aware of it at the time.

“I didn’t know any time gaps on the final 5km, I was just pushing it really hard,” Pogačar told France Télevisions. “I knew the last 5km very well. It was a little bit wet, so the corners were a bit tricky, but I kept pushing until the final.”

Pogačar also paid tribute to the efforts of the 19-year-old Seixas, whose Decathlon team burnt off most of his UAE companions on the lower slopes of the Col du Haag. Seixas later tracked Florian Lipowitz’s acceleration on the climb, and he had the strength to bridge up to Vingegaard across the summit.

“He is a contender, he’s a champion,” Pogačar said. “He’s a very good leader of his team and his team worked very well for him. The crowds love him, he’s the next big hope for France.”

But does anybody other than Pogačar have any hope on this Tour? The world champion is the obvious favourite to claim the summit finish at Plateau de Solaison on stage 15, but he was guarded on his strategy for the day.

“I really love the climb, but the stage is a bit more difficult on paper than today to control,” Pogačar said. “It’s not more difficult in climbing terms but controlling it will be hard. We’ll have to decide in the middle of the stage and see what kind of energy levels we have in the team. We’ll see what we can do.”