Tadej Pogacar keeps the Tour de France alive with an attack on the final climb

The moment Tadej Pogacar crosses the line on top of the Cauterets-Cambasque, he doesn’t cheer. He’s not even smiling, having won the tough sixth stage in grand fashion and brought the excitement to the Tour de France. The Slovenian only spreads his arms and makes a deep bow on his bicycle. As if to say, “So you thought I was seen?”

It seemed that way after Pogacar had to watch the first attack of his main competitor Jonas Vingegaard on the Marie Blanque on Wednesday and lost a minute. Afterwards, his Team UAE Emirates was about the doubts that there was about the form of the Slovenian for the Tour start in the Spanish Basque Country.

Pogacar had had a great spring, in which he won the Tour of Flanders, the Amstel Gold Race, the Waalse Pijl and Paris-Nice, among other things, after a fall in Liège-Bastogne-Liège, in which he suffered a complicated fracture of the wrist. It disrupted his preparation for the Tour.

In the opening weekend, Pogacar showed that he was fine, but how he would digest the tough stages was uncertain. And now he should have let go of the Dane Vingegaard right away. “We hope that Tadej can still improve,” said team manager Mauro Gianetti, but he did not look really happy.

At Jumbo-Visma they smell blood on Thursday. If Pogacar is not top, they think at the Dutch team, then this mountain stage, with a climb of the hors category and two of the first category, is a great opportunity to put the Slovenian at a great disadvantage. Immediately after the starting gun, the team plan comes into effect: Wout van Aert starts cycling and will stay ahead all day. The goal: to form a springboard for his leader towards the final climb.

Yellow-black steam train

When the peloton starts climbing the Tourmalet, for the 86th time in Tour history, the other seven Jumbo-Visma riders take the lead like a yellow-black steam train. Behind them the group thins out further and further, in front Christophe Laporte, Tiesj Benoot, Nathan Van Hooydonck and Dylan van Baarle send away one by one.

When it is Wilco Kelderman’s turn for the front, only his teammates Sepp Kuss and Vingegaard are left, and Pogacar. Kuss also gives it a good blow and then Vingegaard himself goes. Pogacar seems to be barely able to hook up and then Jumbo-Visma’s last trump card awaits at the top: Van Aert.

After the descent, the Belgian accelerates in the valley. Pogacar takes a deep breath, his face looks gray. Afterwards he will admit that he is a bit worried at that moment. “I thought: if the same thing happens as yesterday, then we can pack our things and go home.”

But he stays there, even when Vingegaard attacks again on the Cauterets-Cambisque. A little later he goes himself, with more than two kilometers to go. A situation similar to the fourth stage of Paris-Nice earlier this year, when the Dane also attacked, Pogacar came back and successfully countered. He took forty seconds at the time and never gave that lead away. This time the gap at the finish is 24 seconds. “I am very happy with it. And to be honest, I am also a bit relieved,” says Pogacar. “I feel a lot better now.”

It’s not just a bad day for Vingegaard. The Dane may put on the yellow jersey on the podium, he will take it over from Jai Hindley. The Australian from Bora is third, more than a minute and a half. The gap with the rest is more than three minutes.

At Jumbo-Visma they are not surprised that Vingegaard and Pogacar already have such a big lead. “They’ve been showing that all year,” said Merijn Zeeman after the opening weekend

The difference of 25 seconds between the two favorites is already a small difference in an average Tour de France, but for this edition it means nothing at all with fifteen stages to go. There are still four French mountains and six climbing stages to come, including the Puy de Dôme this Sunday and a tough trio of Alpine stages next week. Still plenty of chances to grab time – that applies to both Vingegaard and Pogacar.