Tadej Pogacar crushes competition at Hautacam to take back yellow
Tadej Pogačar won the first Pyrenean stage of the Tour de France with a stunning attack close to the bottom of the day’s final climb, giving himself a huge GC lead over Jonas Vingegaard.
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) stamped his authority on the Tour de France on Thursday, winning stage 12 on the race’s first mountaintop finish at Hautacam.
The world champion was part of a small group which reached the bottom of the Hautacam together, and he was led out by team mate, Jhonatan Narváez, for a few metres before unleashing a vicious attack with 12km of the brutal climb left.
Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) had been on his wheel, but was instantly dropped, his deficit growing steadily as he tried to limit his losses. Eventually, the Danish rider finished 2:10 behind, though he moved into second place overall, behind Pogačar.
Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) was third after attacking Oscar Onley (Picnic-PostNL) with around 5km of the stage to go and finishing just behind Vingegaard.
The Col du Soulor was key in the GC battle. Starting just inside the final 50km, Visma | Lease a Bike took the lead, soon dropping Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), who began the day in the race leader’s yellow jersey, dropping, losing more than nine minutes.
Having started in fourth overall, Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quickstep) was also dropped on the Soulor, and though he managed to rejoin the GC group, he was unable to hold the wheel on Hautacam and has slipped in the standings.
It was even stevens at the bottom of the Hautacam, the day’s final climb, with both Vingegaard and Pogačar taking three teammates onto the lower slopes. Tim Wellens led for UAE early on, and Vingegaard was soon isolated. He was unable to respond when Pogačar attacked, and he is now 3:31 down overall, while Evenepoel is third at 4:45.
How it unfolded
The first proper mountain stage of the 2025 Tour de France and the first opportunity for the race favourites to make their intentions clear, on the long final climb of Hautacam.
Before that, though, there was plenty to take on, with a relatively benign opening 90km before the day’s opening classified climb, the fourth category Côte de Labatmale, after which the route became more challenging, the Cols de Soulor and des Bordères acting as the entrées before the hors category Hautacam main course.
As would be expected, the attacks came immediately after the race left the Auch and the flag dropped, with Intermarché-Wanty keen to stamp their mark on the 180.6km stage. Nothing about the Tour is straightforward, though, a multitude of attacks first heading up the road before being caught again.
At last, after 17km of constant attacking, Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) escaped, leading a huge group of 52 riders up the road. The best placed of those was his team mate, Carlos Rodriguez, who started the day in 12th place, only 5.44 down. The leading group's advantage soon settled at 1.50, while the EF Education-EasyPost team of yellow jersey, Ben Healy, was joined by others in leading the favourites group.
The gap fluctuated only slightly, though the average speed was 50kph when they reached the fourth category climb at the day’s halfway point, the lead still at 1.40. There was no change when they reached the bottom of the Col du Soulor, but it was here that the race began to change.
Though the front group’s advantage grew to more than two minutes for the first time, Ineos Grenadiers provided much of the group’s impetus, while some slid inexorably back into the clutches of the peloton. In that favourites’ group, Visma | Lease a Bike came to the front for the first time all day, dropping both Healy and Evenepoel.
Attacks in the leading group reduced it even further, and Michael Woods (Israel-PremierTech) eventually crested the Soulor just ahead of Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek). On the descent, they were joined by Bruno Armirail (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale), who made it onto the Col des Bordères leading by almost half a minute.
Evenepoel showed remarkable resilience, rejoining the GC group well before the final climb, finding his way onto Pogačar’s wheel, though he was dropped early on the Hautacam.
By the time Armirail reached the bottom of the Hautacam, Woods and his co-escapees were caught by the GC group, which trailed the French rider by 1.44. That was never going to be enough, and he was caught almost as soon as Pogačar launched the race-winning move.
Behind Vingegaard on the climb, a group of four formed, though Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Oscar Onley (Picnic-PostNL) attacked and dropped Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) 5km from the line.
