Defending champion Tadej Pogacar celebrated his second day victory at the 112nd Tour de France and brought back the yellow jersey.
Tadej Pogacar took one last look at Jonas Vingegaard, then the cycling superstar switched to attack and sprinted away from his adversary in explosive cradle.
The defending champion of the Tour de France has caught the circumstances with a powerful start at the legendary Mûr-de-Brittany and stormed back into the yellow jersey after only one day.
On the 197 km long seventh stage from the coastal town of Saint-Malo to the steep classic finale in Brittany, world champion Pogacar referred to second place in his second day of the 112nd tour of France Vingegaard.
Pogacar collected ten bonusconds through his 19th tour of the tour and expanded his lead over ex-champion Vingegaard minimally. Pogacar now has a cushion of 1:17 minutes on the Danes from Team Visma – Lease A Bike. Second is double Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step/+ 0:54).
Tour de France 2025: Florian Lipowitz “A little too far back”
The best German on the demanding stage again became a hope of Florian Lipowitz. The Youngster from the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team lost the connection to the top stars in the club-hard finale and finished 14th behind. Nevertheless, Lipowitz made a place in the overall ranking, and is now eighth (+ 3:02 minutes).
“In the end we were a bit too far back. But I did my best, we can be completely satisfied,” said Lipowitz in the “ARD”: “It was a super hard week. The legs are quite good so far. I hope they stay that way too.”
The beaten also included classic king Mathieu van der Poel, who lost the yellow jersey at the scene of his emotional first tour stage victory four years ago. As expected, the minimal lead of one second was not enough to assert the overall lead in front of Pogacar. After the tactically shaped first tour week, this should no longer be interested in handing over the Maillot Jaune on the way to Paris.
Ex-tour winner Geraint Thomas missed a respectable success on his last tour of France. After a hectic start, the 39-year-old Ineos professional made the jumping group of the day again. However, Thomas and the other outliers were set up to the final on the two-kilometer long and up to 15 percent steep Mûr-de-Brittany. Pogacar’s UAE team around the never-tired tempo folter Nils Politt had always checked the distance and kept less than two minutes. The Cologne native received a special praise of his team via radio.
The hour of the top driver beats
On the first of two trips to the dreaded Mûr-de-Brittany, the hour of the top favorites hit. Under the pace work by Vingegaard’s Visma team, the main field thinned out, Lipowitz positioned itself strongly at the top. Emanuel Buchmann, on the other hand, had a gap and lost the connection.
Six kilometers before the finish, a fall in the top group caused a shock. Pogacar and the other stars were spared and searched for the decision over the past two kilometers. The top drivers were lurking for a long time, Pogacar Ernst made around 500 meters before the finish. Only Vingegaard could hold the rear wheel of the Slovenia.
Nothing should change in the overall ranking on Saturday. The 171.4 km long eighth stage to Laval is one for the sprinter. The German drivers Phil Bauhaus and Pascal Ackermann thus have another chance of the longed-for first tour daily victory.