Great Dane: Vingegaard pads race lead with victory on Tour’s final mountain stage

On the final mountain stage of the 109th edition of the Tour de France, Tadej Pogačar tried over and over to distance yellow jersey Jonas Vingegaard on a wild day in the Pyrenees. But on Hautacam, Pogačar cracked and Vingegaard earned his second summit finish win of the 109th edition, putting another minute into the two-time champion. It was another fine day for new Canadian cycling legend Hugo Houle, 20th on the day and 20th in the GC.

You can watch the 2022 Tour de France at FloBikes.

The Course

The final mountain stage of the 109th edition was similar to Wednesday’s: a short route with three big climbs. The HC-rated Aubisque came first, 17 km of 7 percent. Next up was Cat. 1 Col de Spandelles. The last summit finish of the 2022 Tour de France was the mighty Hautacam, 13.5 km of 7.9 percent. The European heat did not relent.

Over the Aubisque and Spandelles before a spicy finish on the mighty Hautacam.

What a menu for stage 18 of the #TDF2022! pic.twitter.com/b3ejcnZPrs

— Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team (@qst_alphavinyl) July 21, 2022

After Wednesday’s record-tying victory, it seemed unlikely that Pogačar could shift Vingegaard to the tune of 2:22. David Gaudu and Romain Bardet continued their unofficial Best Frenchman competition as Bardet had replaced Adam Yates in sixth.

Here was the top-10 going into Thursday:

1) Jonas Vingegaard (Denmark/Jumbo-Visma) 67:53:54
2) Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia/UAE-Emirates) +2:22
3) Geraint Thomas (Great Britain/Ineos) +4:56
4) Nairo Quintana (Colombia/Arkea-Samsic) +7:53
5) David Gaudu (France/Groupama-FDJ) +7:57
6) Romain Bardet (France/DSM) +9:21
7) Louis Meintjes (South Africa/Intermarché etc) +9:24
8) Alexandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) +9:56
9) Adam Yates (Great Britain/Ineos) +14:33
10) Enric Mas (Spain/Movistar) +16:34

The day began with bad news for Israel-Premier Tech: Chris Froome tested positive for COVID-19. He was the team’s best placed rider on GC at 26th; now Houle was.

Unfortunately I won’t be taking the start today due to covid-19 😔 #TDF2022 pic.twitter.com/RJziNXG52d

— Chris Froome (@chrisfroome) July 21, 2022

A few failed breakaway attempts marked the first hour of racing towards Aubisque. Then an immense group of fugitives, the largest of the 2022 Tour at 32, bounced away. Michael Woods and Houle were in its ranks and 14th-place Bob Jungels was the highest on GC.

Nils Eekhof and Jack Bauer crashed at the same time, both caused by motorbikes in the caravan.