Pogacar escapes another crash as Tour leader’s run of close calls continues

There is no such thing as a routine day in the yellow jersey. Tadej Pogačar may have made it safely through the seventeenth stage of the Tour de France, but new footage has revealed just how close the race leader came to being caught in a sizeable early crash.

The incident happened during the opening phase of the 174.7 kilometre stage from Chambéry to Voiron. Television cameras missed the moment itself, showing only the aftermath as several riders picked themselves up from the road. Tom Pidcock and Fred Wright were among those involved, although all were able to continue.

The footage appears to show Wright clipping the raised edge of the pavement before losing control. His fall triggered a chain reaction behind him, bringing down a group of riders.

Pogačar was directly behind Wright when the crash took place, but escaped because the British rider fell away from his line, leaving the yellow jersey clear of the pileup.

It was the latest in a series of close calls for the Slovenian, whose commanding position in the general classification has not protected him from the everyday dangers of the race.

Just one day earlier, Pogačar had experienced another alarming moment during the stage 16 individual time trial between Évian les Bains and Thonon les Bains.

Florian Lipowitz, who had started the day fifth overall, lost traction while negotiating a sharp right hand bend near the finish. The German hit the road heavily and was later diagnosed with a broken collarbone, forcing him to abandon the race.

Minutes later, Pogačar arrived at exactly the same corner carrying considerable speed. He braked sharply, skidded and briefly lost control of the bike, but managed to correct himself before hitting the ground.

“I almost crashed too,” Pogačar admitted afterwards. He explained that vehicles from the race organisation had affected his view of the bend during the course reconnaissance, leaving him without the preparation he would normally expect for such a technical section.

That escape followed an earlier scare on stage 11, when a loose bottle became trapped beneath Pogačar’s front wheel during the stage to Nevers.

Pogačar somehow kept his handlebars straight, but did not disguise how frightened he had been.

“I completely shat my pants there,” he said. “I already saw myself on the ground.”

The moment passed without consequence, but Pogačar acknowledged that stages considered straightforward on paper can demand just as much concentration as a decisive day in the mountains.

Three narrow escapes in the space of a week, and the abandons of Lipowitz and Jonas Vingegaard, offer a reminder of how quickly a seemingly secure Tour can unravel.