Pogacar already thinking of Tour's 'iconic' Alpe d'Huez doubleheader

The Slovenian carries a lead of 4:32 over Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) into the final three mountain stages of the race and he will expect to secure a record-equalling fifth Tour victory in Paris on Sunday.

While Evenepoel will battle with Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) to be the best of the rest behind Pogačar, the yellow jersey might be tempted onto the offensive to add to his tally of stage wins, starting with Thursday’s finale at Orcières-Merlette.

The ascent will always be associated with Luis Ocaña’s indelible solo effort in 1971, but Pogačar has some history with the place too. The Tour’s last visit was in the opening week in 2020, when a young Pogačar placed second in a group sprint behind compatriot Primoz Roglič. 

“It’s where Primoz Roglič won in 2020 and I finished second, and that was the first time I said to myself. ‘I can race against the best in the world,’” Pogačar told France Télévisions. “It’s a nice finish. We’ll see tomorrow, but I’m for sure looking more to the Alpe d’Huez stages.”

The Tour visits Alpe d’Huez twice in as many days on stage 19 and 20, with the peloton tackling the classic approach from Bourg d’Oisans on Friday before arriving back on the Alpe by way of the Col de Sarenne the following day.

Alpe d’Huez has featured as a summit finish 31 previous times on the Tour but only once during Pogačar’s career. In 2022, Tom Pidcock won the stage from the break, while Pogačar placed fifth after duelling with Jonas Vingegaard a day after the Dane had divested him of yellow on the Col du Granon.

Given Pogačar’s prodigious climbing displays on this Tour, there is anticipation that he might beat Marco Pantani’s 31-year-old record time on the Alpe on Friday. In his press conference on Wednesday, Pogačar was asked where Alpe d’Huez stood in his pantheon of iconic Tour climbs.

“Alpe d’Huez has quite a lot of hype, but I think also Mont Ventoux is quite iconic, I would say, so one of those two must be the top of the hype in France, along with the Tourmalet also,” Pogačar said.

“But definitely, these three are also not the hardest of climbs in France, so I guess it’s the history that makes them iconic. I think this year it will be iconic because we have two Alpe d’Huez finishes together. It’s going to be a massive amount of spectators, I think.”

Pogačar finished safely in the peloton on stage 17 to Voirons, though his teammate Adam Yates endured a difficult day due to illness, coming in more than 26 minutes down. 

“I think he will recover, maybe not for tomorrow, but for Alpe d’Huez, at least for the queen stage, I think he will be good again,” Pogačar said. “Yesterday he was really, really bad. I think if yesterday was a normal stage, he wouldn’t finish, but luckily it was just a TT, and he managed it.”