What a demonstration of power: Tadej Pogacar recovered the yellow jersey at the first mountain arrival of the Tour de France with an almost twelve -kilometer -long solo. Jonas Vingegaard finished second with a gap of 2:10 minutes. Florian Lipowitz finished third.
At the 13.5 km long final climb with an average of 7.8 percent climb to the Hautacam ski station, Vingegaard was surprisingly insulated from his helpers. Already almost twelve kilometers before the finish, Jhonatan Narvaez attracted the pace for his captain Pogacar. The Pogacar attack followed less than minute later. Vingegaard could not follow the explosive acceleration of the Slovenian. First of all, the Dane tried to stay within sight of the defending champion. But the 28-year-old seemed to be at the limit early and Pogacar continued to expand his lead. Three kilometers before the finish, it was 90 seconds. Pogacar drove in his own league, for whom Vingegaard so far so far on this tour was a bit of setback.
Pogacar at the climb to Hautacam
Florian Lipowitz gave a very strong race behind the two tour winners of the past five years. Together with Primoz Roglic, Oscar Onley and Tobias Johannessen, the German tour debut in the Bora jersey was behind Vingegaard. In the last third of the climb, he sets himself away from the pursuers and made more and more soil on Vingegaard – in the end there were second place a few seconds. “Today was the plan that Primoz and I have open cards. Everyone was allowed to try something on the last climb”said Lipowitz in an interview with the sports show. “I took my chance and attacked. Then it was only said to the destination full throttle.”
Moritz Cassalette, Sportschau Tourfunk, July 17, 2025 9:53 p.m.
In the overall ranking, Lipowitz moves to fourth place. The German is 49 seconds behind the third -placed Remco Evenepoel and almost two minutes ahead of his captain Roglic. Pogacar’s lead over Vingegaard, who is now second, is considerable with 3:31 minutes.
Pogacar after falling confidently
The first of three days in the Pyrenees led over 180 kilometers and 3,850 meters of altitude to Hautacam. The final climb for the ski station at 1,520 meters was the first mountain of the highest category on this tour.
The question before the start was how Pogacar had survived his fall the day before. With associations, especially on the left arm and on the hip, the three-time tour winner went into the stage. The 26-year-old was confident: “We will see how my legs feel. I think they are more important than my arms.” He should be right.
Ineos with five drivers in the outlier group
After the race was released, a large group settled with over 50 drivers. Also present was Carlos Rodriguez, who was twelfth in the overall classification (+5: 44 minutes) that was best placed. The Spaniard had four helpers from the Ineos team at his side.
In the top group in particular, Ineos did the leadership work. But the outliers didn’t really get away despite the size of the group, after 120 kilometers it was only a little more than two minutes. There were reasons: In addition to Pogacar’s UAE team, EF and UNO-X took part in the pace work in the main field. With Johannessen (10th place in front of the stage) and Ben Healy in the yellow jersey, both teams also dealt with overall classification.
Van der Poel scores with the intermediate sprint
For the first time, Mathieu van der Poel was also shown 85 kilometers before the finish. The Dutch was also there at the front and kept in at the intermediate sprint. The reward was 17 points. Van der Poel thus moves closer to Jonathan Milan in the green jersey of the sprint best.
Before the final climb, we also went over the first mountain of the 1st category on this tour. The climb to the Col du Soulor was 11.8 kilometers long. Ineos struck a high pace in the top group, more and more drivers had to let them tear off.
Evenepoel comes back according to problems
Surprising happened in the main field a good 50 kilometers before the finish. Remco Evenepoel had problems in the ever smaller favorite group and had to let them tear off. A short time later, Healy could no longer keep up, but that was to be expected.
At the mountain ranking on the Col du Soulor, the rows in the top group and in the main field had cleared. Michael Woods was the first to reach the mountain ranking and scored ten points. Only four outliers followed a few seconds behind. The only 15 driver large group with the favorites passed the mountain ranking with a distance of two minutes.
Armirail is the last outlier
In between there was also Rodriguez, which was also provided a short time later. A certainly disappointing day for the Ineos professional and his helpers who had invested a lot of energy in the outlier group. Before the final climb, Evenepoel made the connection to the top group on a longer departure and finally finished seventh. Healy reached the finish line as 25 (+13: 38 minutes) and is now eleventh after two days in yellow.
Extra Bruno Armirail at the 12th stage of the tour
In the last climb, Bruno Armirail went with a good 100 seconds. He was the only one of the formerly over 50 outliers. The seconds were quickly used up when Pogacar slossed past the French, there were eleven kilometers before the later stage winner.
Bergzeitfahrt to Peyragudes on Friday
On Friday, the classification drivers will again be challenged by heavy mountain time trials over 10.9 kilometers from Loudenvielle to Peyragudes. A whopping 650 meters of altitude and up to 16 percent climber must be overcome on the way to Peyragudes height airport. The steep start and runway in the Pyrenees has often been the destination of touring stages. Large intervals are possible in the fight against the clock.