From the departure there was again attacked by – of course – Wout van Aert. Mikkel Bjerg, among others, released at the back. The Dane drove the peloton to shreds on the mountains on Wednesday and seemed to have to pay for his efforts.
Finally a large group drove away, the composition of which on the Col d’Ausbisque changed continuously. Bauke Mollema, Dylan van Baarle, Van Aert, among others, drove from the front, just like Giulio Ciccone. The Italian was in the leading group without Simon Geschke, the wearer of the polka dot jersey, and thanks to his teammate Mollema, he was able to take a hit. The Dutchman dragged a lot in front of the group of refugees employed by Ciccone.
The race climber, who already won the mountain jersey in the 2019 Giro, came first on top of the Col d’Ausbisque, bringing Ciccone within three points of Geschke. The German had lost a lot of strength with his team Cofidis in the opening phase, but missed the boat, after which he ended up at the back of the game.
Pogacar opens attack
Meanwhile, on the second big climb of the day, Col de Spandelles, Brandon McNulty got back into the lead of the group of favourites. The American teammate of Pogacar drove the entire peloton to smithereens on Wednesday and tried to repeat the same trick. His turn was a lot shorter this time, as Pogacar soon opened the attack. Vingegaard was the only one to follow the unleashed Slovenian, although the rest kept coming back when he dropped the pace. When that happened after the fourth attack, Geraint Thomas took off, Vingegaard decided not to react immediately to the number three in the general classification. During the attack by Pogacar, the Dane had to let go a few meters for the first time, but in the end he was quickly back in the wheel of his big challenger.
In the leading group Van Aert broke up on those same kilometers and Ciccone was unable to join. Thibaut Pinot and Daniel Martinez followed. Pinot was therefore in a position to grab the mountain jersey, but he was unable to pass Van Aert and Martinez on top.
Val Pogacar
Pogacar failed to release Vingegaard uphill, but almost succeeded downhill. The Dane slipped, but miraculously stayed upright. Pogacar failed to do so moments later. He made a slider. The jersey wearer decided not to continue and waited for his battered challenger. As a result, they lost time on the leading trio, which saw the chances of the stage victory increase.
On Hautacam, the first attack came with the front runners. Van Aert threw Pinot overboard with his attack, but Martinez did not want to bend yet. Just under a minute behind him, his teammate Sepp Kuss in Vingegaard’s service drove so fast that only the yellow and white wearers could follow. The three joined the leading duo, after which Martinez and Kuss immediately let go. Van Aert used an executioner’s pace that even Pogacar could not follow. The green jersey carrier threw the two-time Tour winner overboard. Vingegaard then went solo on his way to his second stage victory and drove far away from Pogacar. Van Aert was third.