Jul 19, 2023 at 5:25 PMUpdate: 38 minutes ago
Jonas Vingegaard can hardly miss the overall victory in the Tour de France. The leader of Jumbo-Visma saw Tadej Pogacar release early on Wednesday in the queen stage on the final climb and was well behind his rival.
Pogacar had to let the group of favorites go almost 8 kilometers from the top of the Col de la Loze. The Slovenian finally crossed the finish line 5 minutes and 45 seconds after Vingegaard.
Vingegaard is now 7 minutes and 35 seconds ahead of number two Pogacar in the general classification. The Dane already dealt a blow to his competitor in the individual time trial on Tuesday.
Vingegaard finished fourth in the queen stage, almost two minutes behind stage winner Felix Gall. The Austrian belonged to a large group of escapees and attacked alone on the final climb. He was more than half a minute ahead of Simon Yates.
The Tour continues on Thursday with a relatively flat stage. Only on Saturday will the riders have a tough mountain stage for their choosing, after which the French cycling round traditionally ends a day later on the Champs-Élysées in Paris.
Kelderman in a large leading group full of big names
The seventeenth stage took the peloton over 165.7 kilometers from Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc to Courchevel. After two first category climbs and a second category climb, the finish was shortly after the top of a highest category climb. In the final kilometer there was still a lot of climbing to do.
Pogacar crashed early in the stage, but was able to continue on his way. A leading group of 32 riders formed on the second climb. This group included Wilco Kelderman, Tiesj Benoot, Simon Yates, Pello Bilbao, David Gaudu, Rafal Majka, Gall and Thibaut Pinot.
They started with a lead of about three minutes on the Col de la Loze, the last climb of the day. On the 28.3 kilometer long col with an average gradient of 5.9 percent, both the leading group and the favorites group thinned out considerably.
Pogacar has to release early on the final climb
Especially the last 5 kilometers of the final climb were steep and Pogacar had to let go before that. The two-time Tour winner was soon one minute behind and saw the difference grow further and further when Vingegaard continued solo. The Dane did get some help from the slumped Kelderman.
At the top of the Col de la Loze, Vingegaard’s lead over Pogacar was already almost five minutes. More than a kilometer before the top, the Dane was held up for a while because the car of the Tour organization stopped due to the large number of spectators.
On the final climb the leading group had also exploded and Gall attacked alone about 6 kilometers from the top. The 25-year-old AG2R-Citroën rider quickly made a gap with his fellow escapees and soloed to the best victory of his career.
Vingegaard joined some escapees in the descent, but was unable to catch up with Gall. The Jumbo-Visma rider did cross the finish line with a huge lead over Pogacar and thus took an advance on the overall victory in the Tour.
2023-07-19 15:25:44
#Vingegaard #takes #advance #victory #Tour #dramatic #day #Pogacar #NU.nl
