Pogacar braced for miserable conditions as Tour hits Alps

Tadej Pogačar is braced for miserable weather and another duel with Jonas Vingegaard when the Tour de France returns to the high mountains on stage 18 to the Col de la Loze.

Two years ago, Pogačar lost all hope of beating Vingegaard to yellow on the mighty climb, famously confessing “I’m gone, I’m dead” over his radio as his strength deserted him on the pass.

This time out, Pogačar is the man in yellow, while Vingegaard is doing the chasing, and his healthy 4:15 advantage makes him the overwhelming favourite to claim overall victory in Paris.

In 2021, Pogačar all but secured Tour victory on a rainy and cold weekend in the Alps, which led many to suggest his defeats to Vingegaard in 2022 and 2023 were triggered in part by the extreme heat in the latter part of those editions.

The current iteration of Pogačar doesn’t appear to have any such vulnerabilities, though he downplayed the idea that rain and cold in the Alps would necessarily play to his advantage.

“The bad weather is here, and I think also the next days shouldn’t be pretty good either,” Pogačar said after a rain-soaked finale in Valence on Wednesday. “For me, the coldish weather normally suits me well, but the older I get I prefer the sunshine.”

The route of this Tour has already featured two climbs where Pogačar had previously suffered at Vingegaard’s expense, and the Slovenian has made amends on each occasion. At Hautacam on stage 12, Pogačar put two minutes into Vingegaard as he claimed a dominant stage victory. At Mont Ventoux on Tuesday, he withstood Vingegaard’s all-out offensive and set a new record time for the ascent in the process.

The Col de la Loze marks a different test, with its 2304m summit marking the highest point of the 2025 Tour, and it comes after ascents of the Col du Glandon and Col de la Madeleine.

The Tour climbs the Col de la Loze from the opposite side to two years ago, but it remains a redoubtable, hors categorie test, with the road rising for 26.4km at an average gradient of 6.5%.

“I know it and it’s a beautiful climb, one of the hardest I’ve done in my life, but we’re going up the other side, which is perhaps not so difficult,” said Pogačar, who knows Visma | Lease a Bike will look to put him under pressure from the outset on Vingegaard’s behalf.

“More or less, they will try to go in the breakaway, and they will give it everything on the Col de la Loze. But I’m ready.”

Pogačar finished safely in the peloton on stage 17 in Valence to retain the overall lead and claim the 50th yellow jersey of his career, even if he was unaware of the precise tally when asked to guess how many he had now worn over the years. “Quite a lot,” he smiled.

Jonathan Milan’s stage win in Valence has given him a 72-point lead over Pogačar in the points classification, though the mountainous terrain ahead gives the three-time Tour winner a chance to claim the green jersey in Paris.

Pogačar is also leading the king of the mountains classification, though he downplayed his interest in claiming anything other than final overall victory in Paris. “The objective is to stay in yellow, nothing more,” he said.

In his post-stage press conference, Pogačar also found himself defending his UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad against charges of arrogance after teammate Nils Politt had been accused of bullying behaviour towards would-be attackers on stage 16 to Mont Ventoux. French national coach Thomas Voeckler was among those to highlight Politt’s actions.

“I don’t know… I mean arrogance is one thing and trying to win Tour is another thing,” Pogačar said. “We don’t try to be arrogant, we just try to make our race as easy as possible for ourselves to win. Some people would do better to keep quiet. That will sound super arrogant, but ok..."

With some 5,500m of altitude gain on the agenda, there is no way to make Thursday’s arduous leg to the Col de la Loze seem easy. “It’s the queen stage of the Tour,” Pogačar said. “I’m really looking forward to it.”