'It was a big objective to win at Alpe d'Huez' - Pogacar crowns Tour triumph with astonishing solo win

“It’s not a secret anymore, it was a big objective to win here,” Pogačar told France Télévisions.

“It was a fantastic day. It was tough. The breakaway was well-organised, and we had to really push hard. I was thinking of my teammates throughout the climb and gave it my all right up to the finish.

“It’s very cool to win up here. It was a crazy, crazy atmosphere all the climb and it was thanks to all the team that I could pull it off in the end.”

There were question marks surrounding Pogačar and his UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad ahead of the stage after a number of riders were affected by illness in recent days. UAE didn’t replicate their earlier smothering of the race, and the break had a lead of 3:30 at the foot of Alpe d’Huez, but that didn’t prevent Pogačar from unleashing a supersonic acceleration after work from Felix Groẞschartner at the foot of the Alpe. 

“We were going full gas all day and then at the beginning, on the first kilometre of Alpe d’Huez, I knew that I had good legs and there was not many guys left that maybe can follow or try to go with me,” Pogačar said. “So I tried and then I committed to the top.”

Teammate Adam Yates, who had been part of the day’s early break, dropped back to pace Pogačar midway up the ascent, but Alpe d’Huez was essentially a time trial for the yellow jersey, who caught leaders Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) and Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) with 2km to go before dropping them shortly after the flamme rouge.

“I had Adam in the middle give me big morale boost,” Pogačar said. “I was super happy to ride behind him for a couple of kilometres on the climb. In the end, I had to fight off against super good riders, but they were playing a bit with each other in the end, so this helped me to catch up and win the stage.”

Yates had been among the UAE riders stricken by illness this week, but Pogačar dismissed the impact of the crisis on his approach to the stage, confirming that he had not been laid low by any sickness.

“Yeah, I’m in good shape,” Pogačar said. “We just go day by day and tomorrow is the queen stage of the Tour. I hope that Paris will be a nice day, but tomorrow is the hardest day of the Tour.”

Pogačar put more than two minutes into his closest challengers on GC, and he now holds a lead of 7:11 on Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) in the overall standings, while his teammate Isaac del Toro lies third at 9:42.

The Tour returns to Alpe d’Huez on Saturday for a second successive finish, albeit by way of the Col de Sarenne. Pogačar downplayed the idea that he would chase another stage win, suggesting that the team’s priority might be for Del Toro to fend off Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) to retain third place and the white jersey of best young rider.

“I mean, now we won and tomorrow we see,” Pogačar said. “We go our own rhythm, our own plan tomorrow and we don’t care about anything else. We just do like we do every day, stick as a team together, do our best and then we see what happens.

“Today was maybe my day to take an opportunity to win, and tomorrow we make sure that Isaac fights for this beautiful white jersey and podium.”