Big surprise: Tadej Pogacar won the time trial on the penultimate stage of this year’s Tour de France with a hussar ride and untied the yellow jersey from the so far sovereign overall leader Primoz Roglic. On Sunday, Pogacar will become the youngest tour winner in modern times.
Driving to Paris in yellow: Tadej Pogacar.
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Sensation at the Tour de France: The young Slovene Tadej Pogacar took the yellow jersey off his compatriot Primoz Roglic, who was so sovereign up to now, in the mountain time trial on the penultimate day and is about to take overall victory. The 21-year-old won the fight against the clock on Saturday after a furious drive over 36.2 kilometers from Lure to La Planche des Belles Filles, leaving Roglic 1:56 minutes behind.
Pogacar is now with a lead of 59 seconds on the last stage to Paris, where the yellow jersey is traditionally no longer attacked. “I think I’m dreaming. I don’t know when I’ll get that,” said Pogacar, who was completely flat after his triumph, but overjoyed.
Memories of duel Fignon against Lemond in 1989
This brought back memories of the exciting tour final in 1989, when Greg Lemond caught Laurent Fignon in the final individual time trial and clinched the tour victory with an eight-second lead.
Roglic loses his nerve, nothing works on the ascent
Who would have thought that? Roglic was the big favorite, having already won four time trials in major tours in his career. But the otherwise so cool ex-ski jumper apparently lost his nerve. He lost time kilometer by kilometer, on the final ascent nothing worked. At the finish, Roglic slumped to the ground, his big dream was over.
Porte is still third
Pogacar only needed 55:55 minutes for the 36.2 kilometers with the heavy climbing and was even 1:21 minutes faster than Roglic’s team-mate Tom Dumoulin and the Australian Richie Porte, who moved up to third place overall. It was also the youngster’s third stage win in the 2021 Tour. It was his first participation in the Tour of France.
Last year, Pogacar had stunned the Vuelta with three stage wins and third place overall. At that time, Roglic was still triumphant. “I have to finish my work,” Roglic had said before the mountain time trial.
Schachmann best German: “I drove by feeling”
The best German in the fight against the clock was Maximilian Schachmann, who drove 3:59 minutes back to a strong 17th place. “I drove by feeling. In the end it wasn’t that bad,” said Schachmann, who already wanted to save energy for the World Cup in a week.
Shortly before the goal: Tadej Pogacar.
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It got really exciting. After just a few kilometers, Roglic had lost twelve seconds on his young rival. After 20 kilometers the gap had grown to 28 seconds. And that in the flat part of the route, on which Roglic was clearly favored. On the final ascent, Pogacar couldn’t stop.
Pogacar also wins the mountain and junior class
With this, Pogacar also wins the mountain jersey and of course the white jersey of the best young driver. The green jersey can hardly be taken from the Irish Sam Bennett with 55 points ahead of former world champion Peter Sagan. This ends an era: the Bora-hansgrohe captain had worn the Maillot Vert seven times in the past eight years. The only interruption was his disqualification in 2017.
The 21st and final stage starts on Sunday in Mantes-la-Jolie and ends after 122 kilometers on the Champs Elysees. There should be another mass sprint there. Due to the increasing number of corona infections, only 5000 spectators are allowed in the finish area. There will be no more attacks on the yellow jersey at the “Tour d’Honneur”, Pogacar can enjoy his triumphant trip to Paris.
20. Etappe, Lure – La Planche des Belles Filles (36.2 km, EZF):
1. Tadej Pogacar (Slovenia) – UAE Team Emirates 55:55 Min .; 2. Tom Dumoulin (Netherlands) – Team Jumbo + 1:21 min .; 3. Richie Porte (Australia) – Trek – Segafredo; 4. Wout van Aert (Belgium) – Team Jumbo + 1:31; 5. Primoz Roglic (Slovenia) – Team Jumbo + 1:56; 6. Remi Cavagna (France) – Deceuninck-Quick-Step + 1:59; 7. Damiano Caruso (Italy) – Bahrain-McLaren + 2:29; 8. David De la Cruz Melgarejo (Spain) – UAE Team Emirates + 2:40; 9. Enric Mas Nicolau (Spain) – Movistar Team + 2:45; 10. Rigoberto Uran Uran (Colombia) – EF Pro Cycling + 2:54; … 17. Maximilian Schachmann (Berlin) – Bora-hansgrohe + 3:59; 21. Lennard Kämna (Fischerhude) – Bora-hansgrohe + 4:12; 25. Simon Geschke (Freiburg im Breisgau) – CCC Team + 4:38; 28. Nils Politt (Hürth) – Israel Start-Up Nation + 5:04; 51. Emanuel Buchmann (Ravensburg) – Bora-hansgrohe + 6:52; 57. Tony Martin (Kreuzlingen / Switzerland) – Team Jumbo + 6:59; 79. Maximilian Walscheid (Heidelberg) – NTT Pro Cycling Team + 7:52; 92. Roger Kluge (Berlin) – Lotto-Soudal + 8:30; 121. Jonas Koch (Schwäbisch Hall) – CCC Team + 9:31; 143. Nikias Arndt (Cologne) – Team Sunweb + 11:04
Overall ranking individual, status after the 20th stage:
1. Tadej Pogacar (Slovenia) – UAE Team Emirates 84:26:33 hours; 2. Primoz Roglic (Slovenia) – Team Jumbo + 59 sec .; 3. Richie Porte (Australia) – Trek – Segafredo + 3:30 min .; 4. Mikel Landa Meana (Spain) – Bahrain-McLaren + 5:58; 5. Enric Mas Nicolau (Spain) – Movistar Team + 6:07; 6. Miguel Angel Lopez Moreno (Colombia) – Astana + 6:47; 7. Tom Dumoulin (Netherlands) – Team Jumbo + 7:48; 8. Rigoberto Uran Uran (Colombia) – EF Pro Cycling + 8:02; 9. Adam Yates (Great Britain) – Mitchelton-Scott + 9:25; 10. Damiano Caruso (Italy) – Bahrain-McLaren + 14:03; … 34. Lennard Kämna (Fischerhude) – Bora-hansgrohe + 2:14:33 hours; 38. Emanuel Buchmann (Ravensburg) – Bora-hansgrohe + 2:19:19; 48. Simon Geschke (Freiburg im Breisgau) – CCC Team + 2:43:21; 55. Maximilian Schachmann (Berlin) – Bora-hansgrohe + 3:00:50; 118. Tony Martin (Kreuzlingen / Switzerland) – Team Jumbo + 5:02:50; 120. Nils Politt (Hürth) – Israel Start-Up Nation + 5:07:53; 125. Jonas Koch (Schwäbisch Hall) – CCC Team + 5:12:04; 126. Nikias Arndt (Cologne) – Team Sunweb + 5:12:50; 134. Maximilian Walscheid (Heidelberg) – NTT Pro Cycling Team + 5:29:38; 146. Roger Kluge (Berlin) – Lotto-Soudal + 6:05:42
Mountain classification, status after the 20th stage:
1. Tadej Pogacar (Slovenia) – UAE Team Emirates 82 pts .; 2. Richard Carapaz Montenegro (Ecuador) – Ineos Grenadiers 74; 3. Primoz Roglic (Slovenia) – Team Jumbo 67; 4. Marc Hirschi (Switzerland) – Team Sunweb 62; 5. Miguel Angel Lopez Moreno (Colombia) – Astana 51; 6. Benoit Cosnefroy (France) – AG2R La Mondiale 36; 7. Pierre Rolland (France) – Vital Concept 36; 8. Richie Porte (Australia) – Trek – Segafredo 36; 9. Nans Peters (France) – AG2R La Mondiale 32; 10. Lennard Kämna (Fischerhude) – Bora-hansgrohe 27; … 19. Simon Geschke (Freiburg im Breisgau) – CCC Team 23; 27. Maximilian Schachmann (Berlin) – Bora-hansgrohe 14; 57. Nils Politt (Hürth) – Israel Start-Up Nation 2
Sprint evaluation, status after the 20th stage:
1. Sam Bennett (Ireland) – Deceuninck-Quick-Step 319 pts .; 2. Peter Sagan (Slovakia) – Bora-hansgrohe 264; 3. Matteo Trentin (Italy) – CCC Team 250; 4. Bryan Coquard (France) – Vital Concept 173; 5. Wout van Aert (Belgium) – Team Jumbo 160; 6. Caleb Ewan (Australia) – Lotto-Soudal 158; 7. Julian Alaphilippe (France) – Deceuninck-Quick-Step 150; 8. Tadej Pogacar (Slovenia) – UAE Team Emirates 143; 9. Sören Kragh Andersen (Denmark) – Team Sunweb 138; 10. Michael Mörköv (Denmark) – Deceuninck-Quick-Step 129; … 15. Lennard Kämna (Fischerhude) – Bora-hansgrohe 95; 24. Maximilian Schachmann (Berlin) – Bora-hansgrohe 63; 32. Simon Geschke (Freiburg im Breisgau) – CCC Team 55; 46. Nils Politt (Hürth) – Israel Start-Up Nation 40; 80. Maximilian Walscheid (Heidelberg) – NTT Pro Cycling Team 20; 94. Nikias Arndt (Cologne) – Team Sunweb 14; 111. Roger Kluge (Berlin) – Lotto-Soudal 8; 117. Jonas Koch (Schwäbisch Hall) – CCC Team 4; 122. Tony Martin (Kreuzlingen / Switzerland) – Team Jumbo 2
Team ranking, status after the 20th stage:
1. Movistar Team (Spain) 253: 34: 22 hours; 2. Team Jumbo (Netherlands) + 18:31 min .; 3. Bahrain-McLaren (Bahrain) + 57:10; 4. EF Pro Cycling (USA) + 1:16:43 hours; 5. Ineos Grenadiers (Great Britain) +1:30:58; 6th Trek – Segafredo (USA) + 1:39:39; 7. Astana (Kazakhstan) + 1:47:15; 8. AG2R La Mondiale (France) + 2:58:26; 9. UAE Team Emirates (United Arab Emirates) + 3:06:46; 10. Mitchelton-Scott (Australia) + 3:25:10; … 15. Bora-hansgrohe (Germany) + 5:03:57; 17. Team Sunweb (Germany) + 7:12:32
All events and ratings for reading in the tour ticker …
All stages and their winners at a glance …
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