Pogacar soars in stage 13 TT, tightens grip on yellow at Tour de France

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) claimed his fourth stage win of the 2025 edition so far, completing the 10.9km effort in a time of 23:00, finishing 36 seconds ahead of Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) in second, and 1:20 over Primož Roglič (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) in third. 

Pogačar has seized control of the yellow jersey in the first two Pyrenean stages, and based on the current momentum, he looks like he is unlikely to relinquish the race lead anytime soon. His lead in the general classification is now 4:07 over Vingegaard in second and 7:24 over Evenepoel in third.

“I decided to go without a radio, because the tactic was just all-out from bottom to top, so I was just relying on the screen at the time checks,” Pogačar said. “I saw at the first one I was already five seconds in green [ahead] or something. This gave me motivation.”

While Vingegaard steadied the ship after a trying day at Hautacam, the stage was a near disaster for Evenepoel. The Belgian appeared to have a chain issue on the climb but he was also clearly struggling, and he suffered the indignity of being caught and passed for two minutes by Vingegaard within sight of the line.

Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) has closed to within six seconds of Evenepoel in the general classification. Pogačar, meanwhile, looks to be out of sight. 

Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla) was comfortably the fastest early starter. setting a time 24:58 which was two minutes faster than any other times set. The Australian wasn’t remotely challenged until Lenny Martinez (Bahrain-Victorious) in the polka dot jersey posted a time that fell 23 seconds short.

Over the next hour or so, there were some strong rides, from the likes of Harry Sweeny (EF Education-EasyPost), Julian Alaphilippe and Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) but none were able to come close to the time set by Plapp or even Martinez.

Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) was the next rider to pose a challenge in the stage standings, sitting four seconds behind Plapp at the second time check, and crossed the line in provisional runner-up, 17 seconds behind Plapp.

Pogačar came through the first checkpoint the fastest rider, five seconds ahead of Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) and eight over Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike).

Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Primož Roglič (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) went through at 15 seconds with Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), and Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) at 17 seconds, Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) at 28 seconds and Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL) at 30 seconds.

Pogačar continued to extend his lead through the second checkpoint, 23 seconds ahead of Vingegaard, 52 over Roglič, 1:01 over Lipowtiz, and 1:19 on Evenepoel in fifth.

Roglič was the first rider to dethrone the time at the finish set by Plapp, but it would be toppled by two riders. First Vingegaard powered his way across the line, catching and passing Evenepoel metres from the line. However, Pogačar in the yellow jersey romped to victory posting a time of 23 minutes, 36 seconds quicker than Vingegaard, to take yet another stage win and extend his lead at the Tour de France.