Pogacar delights in 'reverse story' against Visma at Hautacam

The Tour de France is only just past its midpoint, but Tadej Pogačar is already in a seemingly unassailable position atop the overall standings after a crushing victory atop Hautacam on stage 12.

Pogačar unleashed a furious, seated acceleration with a shade over 12km remaining and he scarcely relented thereafter, coming home 2:10 ahead of Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike). The world champion is back in the yellow jersey and he is already some 3:31 ahead of Vingegaard.

The victory marked a revenge of sorts for Pogačar, who lost the 2022 Tour to his rival at Hautacam after a searing show of pace-setting from Wout van Aert. This time out, it was Pogačar’s UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad that had the upper hand on the climb, with Tim Wellens leading the reduced GC group on the ascent before Jhonatan Narváez teed up the winning attack.

“I knew from the first time I rode Hautacam when I did a recon that it’s super nice climb. I was always looking forward to riding this climb and then came the Tour de France in 22...” Pogačar said. 

“I was trying with my head through the wall to get back the yellow jersey that day, but Visma was too strong back then. I had almost already forgotten about his, I was just looking forward to today. But then all the people all the time were coming to me and saying ‘Oh yeah, this is the revenge time and blah, blah, blah.' 

“When we approached the bottom of the climb, it was the reverse story of three years ago – one Belgian guy again on the front, Tim, and our team on the front. Really, I’m super happy to take time and to win on this climb.”

Pogačar’s victory came a day after he endured a scare when he was a faller in the finale of stage 11 to Toulouse. The Slovenian started on Thursday with gauze on his left arm, but he showed no ill effects from his injuries. He dominated his opponents in the here and now, and he almost came close to matching Bjarne Riis’ apparently unassailable record time for the ascent.

“For sure, you don’t know how the body reacts, after a crash,” Pogačar said. “But it was not too bad. It was not a bad crash. I feel my hip only if I do acrobatics but I’m just riding the bike, so it’s not a lot of flexing. And here [his arm] I just sweat a bit more, but maybe it’s good.”

Visma | Lease a Bike whittled down the peloton with a fierce bout of pace-making on the Col du Soulor, distancing overnight leader Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), but it came at a cost, as Vingegaard’s teammate Matteo Jorgenson and Sepp Kuss struggled on the following climbs.

Pogačar, by contrast, had Wellens, Narváez and Adam Yates for company at the foot of Hautacam. Such was his superiority, mind, he scarcely needed any assistance.

“Yeah, we did a superb job,” Pogačar said. “The team rode really well and chapeau also to Ben Healy and EF. They tried to defend the jersey and they showed really a big spirit, and so did Uno-X fighting for their own GC. It was a super hard day but in the end, we were super strong. We had this stage in mind a long time.”

Pogačar dedicated his victory to the late Samuele Privitera, who died following a crash at the Giro della Valle d’Aosta on Wednesday.

“I think this stage can go for Samuele and for all his family because it was really sad,” Pogačar said. “It was the first thing I read in the morning. I was thinking in the last kilometre about him and how tough this sport can be and how much pain it can cause.”