'Tired' Pogacar surprised by Vingegaard's tactics at La Plagne

The expected onslaught never arrived on the final mountain stage of the Tour de France. Visma | Lease a Bike didn’t put any real pressure on Tadej Pogačar on the shortened stage, and the yellow jersey didn’t hunt victory on the final haul to La Plagne with anything like the anticipated fervour.

Instead, it was Thymen Arensman (Ineos) who won the day, while Pogačar had to settle for third place, two seconds down, after a stalemate with Jonas Vingegaard on the last mountain of the Tour.

When UAE Team Emirates-XRG took up the reins at the foot of the final climb, it looked as though Pogačar had clear designs on a fifth stage win at this Tour, but their forcing unspooled once Jhonatan Narváez swung off after a supersonic but short-lived stint of pace-making.

Pogačar launched one fierce attack with 14km remaining, but he relented when his rival Vingegaard showed himself able to follow. Arensman punched clear shortly afterwards, and from there, Pogačar seemed content to settle into a controlling pattern, pacing Vingegaard and Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) towards the summit.

They closed to within sight of Arensman in the final kilometre, but neither Pogačar nor Vingegaard seemed willing to commit to an effort from distance, and the Dutchman just about held on for his second stage win of the race.

“We did a very good job until the last climb, but then some riders think they can sprint the whole 19km of the climb, so the pace was incredibly high at the start,” Pogačar said. “I was thinking that maybe Jonas wanted to win the stage also, but he was just holding onto my wheel. 

“Arensman went on a good attack, and I decided not to follow. I set a good rhythm that I feel comfortable with. In the end it was like this. I’m just happy it’s over, two more days to Paris.”

Pogačar’s 4:24 lead on Vingegaard after the last mountain stage of the Tour leaves him within touching distance of a fourth overall victory at the race. He has never looked in any difficulty on this Tour, but he insisted it had been harder than it looks.

“I had to pull the whole climb until the end today, so of course I came quite tired to the finish line,” Pogačar said. “But it was also tough the last three days for me, so I’m happy today is over. We go to tomorrow.”

The GC battle looks to be settled, with Saturday’s run to Pontarlier seemingly one for the breakaway, but there is another potential opportunity for Pogačar on the final evening in Paris, where the addition of the climb to Montmartre has obvious scope for attackers. 

“I hope I just get to Paris with yellow and then if we have good legs, we have a good team for the circuit,” Pogačar said. “But I don’t feel super energised right now to think about racing on Sunday. It’s a really hectic parcours. I think it’s going to be a tough one. Sunday is Sunday, and tomorrow is maybe the more important day.”

Despite the impending fourth Tour victory, Pogačar appeared rather downbeat in his post-stage press conference. 24 hours earlier, he had confessed that he was looking forward to the end of the Tour, but at La Plagne, he shrugged off the idea that he was bored with the race.

“I’m obviously tired,” he said. “It’s not been an easy Tour, with people attacking me from left to right, from day one until the end, so I’ve been focused and motivated. The priority is the yellow jersey. I was counting down the kilometres today because I was going with my pace, and hoping that nobody would attack from behind.”