Pogacar takes Le Lioran revenge to hammer home Tour de France advantage

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) settled a score with Le Lioran on stage 10 of the Tour de France with a crushing solo victory that has put him even further beyond the reach of his rivals.

The world champion’s UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad kept the break on a tight leash throughout the rugged Bastille Day stage, and it seemed inevitable throughout that Pogačar would conjure up a vicious acceleration in the finale.

Although UAE’s usual hegemony was not as total as on the Tourmalet last week, Pogačar was again in a league of his own. He attacked with intent on the Col de Pertus with a little under 16km to go to win the stage by 32 seconds from a Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe). 

Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) had led the pursuit of Pogačar in the finale, but he paid for those efforts in the closing metres, coming in 44 seconds down at the back of the chasing group.

Two years ago, Pogačar was caught and beaten by Vingegaard after he attacked from distance on the Puy Mary. This time around, he elected to wait until the upper reaches of the Col de Pertus with 15.5km to go, where he accelerated with astonishing force.

Sensibly, Vingegaard didn’t even try to match his rival’s pace. More strikingly, Pogačar closed a 45-second gap on escapee Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) in the space of 700 dizzying metres on the ascent.

Pogačar blasted past Carapaz near the summit and continued to pile on the pressure over the other side. Behind, the GC group had splintered, with Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) losing ground to Vingegaard, Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) et al over the top of the climb.

Vingegaard led the chase on the category 3 Col de Font de Cère, with Seixas, Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull), Juan Ayuso and Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) for company. Although he couldn’t prevent Pogačar from stretching his lead out to 40 seconds by the top, he briefly managed to shake off Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and keep a flagging Del Toro at bay.

Evenepoel chased his way back on over the top and then sprinted to a defiant second place ahead of Seixas.

In the overall standings, Pogačar is now 3:36 ahead of Vingegaard, with Evenepoel up to third at 4:06. Del Toro drops to sixth overall after coming in 1:31 down.

The presence of an intermediate sprint after 25km meant that there was little prospect of an early break, but the high speed did trigger a split in the peloton that briefly saw Jonas Vingegaard caught out. The race was stitched back together in time for the sprint, where green jersey Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) pipped Max Kanter (XDS-Astana) to maximum points.

That marked the beginning of the next phase of the race, with Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) kicking off the flurry of attack and counterattack that preceded the approach to the day’s climbs.

Van der Poel was part of the 30-strong move that formed ahead of the Côte de Pailherol, along with Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), Thymen Arensman (Netcompany) and Luke Plapp (Jayco-AlUla), but UAE Team Emirates-XRG were keeping an ominously tight rein on proceedings behind.

The break splintered after the Pailherol, with Javier Romo (Movistar) and Harald Tejada (XDS-Astana) slipping up the road together. They were still in front by the Col de la Griffoul with 74km to go, while Healy and Louis Vervaeke (Soudal Quick-Step) were giving chase at 30 seconds and the UAE-led bunch at 1:30.

Romo dropped Tejada on the lower slopes of the climb and pressed on alone, while the rest of the break continued to splinter behind him. By the top, Romo had a lead of 30 seconds on a chase group composed of Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost), Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step) and Ramses Debruyne (Alpecin-Premier Tech).

Behind, however, Tim Wellens had now taken up the pace-making in the yellow jersey group, and it was clear the escapees were on borrowed time. Wellens duly hoovered up the remnants of the break on the following Côte de Murat, where Romo crested the summit with 40 seconds in hand and 47km over two category 1 climbs to come.

Romo’s adventure ended on the lower slopes of the Puy Mary with 38km to go. Felix Grossschartner took over from Wellens on the front, while the reduced peloton braced itself for Pogačar’s inevitable attack.

Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) tilted at the windmill with a little under 7km of the climb to go and the Ecuadorian punched his way to a 30-second advantage over the UAE-led peloton by the top. 

Adam Yates began to turn the screw on Pogačar’s behalf near the top, and the yellow jersey group was pared down accordingly, with Vingegaard’s Visma guard reduced to just Davide Piganzoli, and Remco Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz losing all their Red Bull teammates.

Carapaz stretched out his lead to a minute on the sinuous descent, where Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5) crashed when his wheels slipped from under him, though the Briton quickly remounted and caught the yellow jersey group.

On the Col de Pertus, however, there was a change in tone. Yates led the yellow jersey on the lower slopes of the climb, but when he swung off midway up, the pace dropped a notch until Piganzoli took up the reins on behalf of Vingegaard.

That hesitancy in the yellow jersey group helped Carapaz carry a buffer of 45 seconds into the final kilometre of the climb, but his lead was slashed when Pogačar unleashed his inevitable attack behind.

Pogačar accelerated with such venom that Vingegaard didn’t even try to follow, and the Slovenian proceeded to catch and pass Carapaz. There were 15km and another climb to go, but the outcome was already clear. There are eleven stages of this Tour to go, and the final outcome already looks clear too.