Pogacar wins, Vingegaard holds on to Peyragudes

A duo to dominate the Tour: the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar won the 17th stage, Wednesday at the altiport of Peyragudes, ahead of the Dane Jonas Vingegaard who gave nothing to keep his yellow jersey.

Vingegaard crossed the line in the immediate wake of Pogacar. He only dropped 4 bonus seconds to keep almost all of his lead, 2 min 18 sec, before the last summit finish Thursday in Hautacam.

On arrival, the Slovenian and the Dane were satisfied. Rightly so, given the turn of the race, which turned into a duel as expected. The third, the Welshman Geraint Thomas, lost more than two additional minutes to now point to 4 min 56 sec from the yellow jersey.

“I am very happy with this victory, I wanted it”, appreciated Pogacar who had to lie down on the finish road after the violence of the effort on the final ramp, at a 16% slope.

The double winner in title, weakened by the morning package of his Polish teammate Rafal Majka, insisted on the dedication and the effectiveness of his last two supports. The Danish rider Mikkel Bjerg turned into a climber from the Hourquette d’Ancizan, the second of the four climbs of the day. American Brandon McNulty took over in Val Louron-Azet, climbing at a stifling pace that caused massive damage.

McNulty, followed by Pogacar and Vingegaard, continued the effort until… 300 meters from the line. Just before, the Dane, sure of himself, had allowed himself to pass in front of Pogacar without seeming to fear being surprised by an attack from his rival.

– “Be on the look-out” –

Are the dice cast for the final victory? Pogacar replied in the negative: “I am optimistic. Tomorrow (Thursday) is an even harder day. We will try again.”

At 23, the Slovenian won a stage of the Tour for the ninth time, in three participations. For the third time since the start after Longwy and the Planche des Belles Filles during the first week.

Facing Pogacar, “you have to be constantly on the alert”, recognized Vingegaard, who had to fend off a first start from his opponent at the top of Val Louron-Azet, a test to which the Dane responded without batting an eyelid. “I fought until the finish. I’m happy with what I did”.

Behind the first two, the other riders in the general classification experienced mixed fortunes on this sunny but less hot day than the previous ones.

David Gaudu, powerfully helped by his teammate Valentin Madouas transformed into a good Samaritan, nibbled away a handful of seconds to get closer to 4 seconds from the Colombian Nairo Quintana (4th).

Another gain, the rise of Romain Bardet, who reacted the day after what he called “a day without” in the Foix stage. The Auvergnat, who started at the front with a view to the top of the first pass (Aspin), took 6th place in the stage. He moved up from 9th to 6th place in the standings.

Main loser of the day, the Briton Adam Yates arrived at almost 9 minutes. He unscrewed from 6th to 9th place at the end of a dark day for his Ineos team since the third man, the Briton Tom Pidcock, joined Peyragudes with a delay of 22 min 06 sec.

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