Tadej Pogačar, despite having over three minutes on Jonas Vingegaard, still decided to attack him on the Col du Noyer late in Stage 17. There was a breakaway well up the road, so really all the Slovenian needed to do was chill in the chase until the finale.
Surprise attack
But, surprisingly, the Team UAE Emirates rider decided to launch. “I stretched my legs on the final climb,” Pogačar said of the attack. “I don’t even know why I myself did that, but I am happy to get two seconds on Jonas.”
Despite the intense pace and alertness of the peloton, a breakaway was only successful late in Wednesday’s 17th stage of the Tour de France. Richard Carapaz emerged victorious, earning his first stage win in the Tour and becoming the first Ecuadorian to do so. Carapaz, who briefly wore the yellow jersey earlier in the 111th edition, now boasts stage wins in all three Grand Tours. Meanwhile, Remco Evenepoel gained 10 seconds on Pogačar, and Jonas Vingegaard fell two more seconds behind the yellow jersey.
The never-ending duel betwween Pogi and Vingegaard
Former Dutch pro Tom Dumoulin said that Pogi did it just to mess with the Dane. “This is pure bluffing, this is pure show of force. Pogačar is three minutes ahead, he doesn’t have to do this at all. He does this purely to annoy Vingegaard,” he said on NOS. “Is it arrogant? It does have a little bit to do with arrogance. That duel between Vingegaard and Pogačar has been going on for three years now and Pogačar can’t stand the fact that he has been beaten two years in a row. Now he is finally back in control and he finally has the legs to hurt Vingegaard again. He now thinks: now you will get it back.”
There are still three big stages where Vingegaard has to make up the very big gap between him and Pogi, but time is running out. Stage 18 is relatively flat, but Stage 19, from Embrun to Isola 2000, could be pivotal. Stage 20 is also a tough one, from Nice to Col de la Couillole. And of course, breaking tradition, the final stage will be a time trial in Nice. Given the conflict with the 2024 Paris Olympics, organizers moved Stage 21 to the city on the Côte d’Azur. It’s also the first time the Tour ends in a time trial since 1989, when Greg LeMond won the race in dramatic fashion, stealing the yellow jersey from Laurent Fignon on the last stage.
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