'No hiding' – Day of truth for Pogacar and Vingegaard at Hautacam

The Tour de France finally hits the high mountains on Thursday, with a summit finish at Hautacam. The race last visited in 2022, when Jonas Vingegaard dropped Tadej Pogačar to seal his overall victory, and all eyes will be on the eternal rivals in the finale of stage 12.

Pogačar begins the day second overall, 29 seconds down on yellow jersey Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), but the world champion is also nursing the injuries he suffered in his late crash on stage 11.

Pogačar’s GC rivals waited for him after that crash and UAE Team Emirates-XRG later confirmed that the Slovenian had not sustained any fractures in the incident. He lined up on Thursday with gauze covering the road rash on his left arm, but he downplayed the impact of his injuries.

“I’m ok. Nothing too bad, just my whole left arm is open completely,” Pogačar told TNT Sports. “It’s more burned off skin and I hit my hip a little bit and my shoulder. But luckily, I was back on my bike quite fast. It’s not the first time I crashed and continued the race.

“We’ll see how my legs are. I think my legs are more important than my arm, so I hope the legs are turning well. I have a super strong team around me who support me and give their all for me. I can rely on them even if I have a hard day today – but I hope not.”

Vingegaard sets out from Auch in fourth place overall, 1:46 down on Healy and 1:17 behind Pogačar. The Dane was soundly beaten by Pogačar on successive summit finishes at the Critérium du Dauphiné in June, but he has managed to follow his rival’s accelerations on the shorter climbs thus far on the Tour.

Hautacam, however, marks a different kind of test, particularly as it is immediately preceded by the Col du Soulor and the Col des Bordères. 

“It’s just in general a very hard climb,” Vingegaard told TNT Sports. “It’s 13.5km, so it’s a very long climb. It will take between 30 and 40 minutes to climb, so in general I think today will be a very hard day.”

Three years ago, Vinegaard distanced Pogačar after teammate Wout van Aert dropped back from the early break to provide a pivotal turn.

“I mean it depends on the legs obviously,” Vingegaard said when asked if he was planning a reprise. “If you have the legs to attack, you can try. If you don’t have the legs, it’s more about following. I guess we’ll see on the last climb how the legs will be. 

“Of course, it’s always nice to have a guy in the front who can fall back and help in that way. It’s never a bad thing to have a guy in the break.”

The Hautacam finale is the first of three successive days in the Pyrenees, with a mountain time trial to Peyragudes on stage 13 and then an arduous leg over the Tourmalet, Aspin and Peyresourde to Superbagnères on Saturday. Vingegaard dismissed the idea that the racing at Hautacam might be cagy with such tough days to follow.

“No, I think there’s no hiding today,” Vingegaard said. “You have to go full gas today, tomorrow and also the day after.”