Pogacar edges Vingegaard to add seconds to his Tour de France lead, equalling 76-year-old mark
COUILLOLE PASS, France — Tadej Pogacar equaled a Tour de France record on Saturday and is likely to match another on Sunday.
Yellow jersey holder Pogacar edged out defending champion Jonas Vingegaard at the top of the Col de La Couillole to win the 20th and penultimate stage and add a few more seconds to his considerable lead.
It was a fifth stage victory this month for the two-time champion, who held out his arms as he crossed the line before raising his fingers to signal his number of victories.
The only other man to win five mountain stages in a Tour was Gino Bartali in 1948.
“If you had told me this before the Tour, I wouldn’t have believed you,” Pogacar said. “It’s really extraordinary. I’m so happy.”
“(Five stages) is more than enough. Just one would be enough. The yellow jersey would be enough. But that’s how it is, you don’t break down on a bike.”
Pogacar attacked from the leading duo with 150 metres to go and beat Vingegaard by seven seconds.
The final podium positions are likely to be the same on Sunday after Pogacar extended his lead to 5 minutes and 14 seconds over two-time defending champion Vingegaard, his closest rival.
Third-placed Remco Evenepoel lost even more time. He crossed the line in fourth position, behind Richard Carapaz, and lost 53 seconds to Pogacar, 8 minutes and 04 seconds behind the Slovenian star.
The Tour ends on Sunday on the Côte d’Azur with a 34-kilometre time trial from Monaco to Nice, and not in Paris as usual due to the Olympic Games.
Barring any mishaps, Pogacar is almost certain to retake the Tour title from Vingegaard and complete a rare Giro d’Italia-Tour de France double. The last rider to win both editions in the same year was the late Marco Pantani in 1998.
“I enjoyed it (the stage) a lot,” Pogacar said. “It didn’t go as planned, but I couldn’t be happier with this new stage win. One more day… and tomorrow I think I’ll enjoy it too.”
After his explosive attack the day beforePogacar said he would not try to win Saturday’s stage, a short but brutal 133-kilometre (83-mile) ride from Nice that featured three tough Category 1 climbs.
Indeed, the UAE rider stayed with the rest of the reduced group of title contenders on the fearsome 16-kilometre (10-mile) climb to the Col de la Couillole until Vingegaard made his attack and Pogacar sat in the Dane’s wheel.
They then swept away the remains of the breakaway and caught the first two, Carapaz and Enric Mas, with 2.5 kilometres to go.
First Mas and then Carapaz were distanced, which set up an intriguing battle in the final kilometre between the two cycling stars, but it was only a matter of time before Pogacar launched his sprint.
Moments after crossing the line, Pogacar stopped and waited for Vingegaard to hug him.
Vingegaard was hospitalized for nearly two weeks in April following a high speed accident in the Tour of the Basque Country. He only returned to competition in this Tour.
“In a way I was hoping he would give me the win,” Vingegaard said. “But I already knew I had ridden so hard that if he sprinted I would have no chance because I was already at my limit.
“But you can always hope. But that’s cycling, that’s how it is. I don’t blame him at all, I would probably do the same thing. I’m just happy with my performance today and how I was able to come back from yesterday.”
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