The yellow jersey went back to Tadej Pogačar on Friday, but it wasn’t without a fight.
The rainbow reclaimed the yellow jersey (and green, greedy fella, but the lazy Slovenian is still in second with the KOM) with a powerful win atop Mûr-de-Bretagne on Stage 7 of the Tour de France. The Slovenian outkicked Jonas Vingegaard in the final metres of the second ascent, taking his 19th career Tour stage victory — tying him for seventh on the all-time list.
Stage 7
A crash with six km to go disrupted the run-in, taking down GC contenders João Almeida and Enric Mas. Earlier, Geraint Thomas featured in a doomed breakaway on his final Tour. Oscar Onley grabbed third on the day, moving into the GC top 10. Remco Evenepoel sits second overall, 54 seconds behind Pogačar.
“If I want to go with the best on such a finish, I need my very best legs,” Van der Poel said to Wielerflits. “I knew in advance that I was not going to have my very best legs. At the first passage of the Mûr-de-Bretagne it was not yet completely creaky, but I already knew that they would ride even faster the second time. I was realistic enough to know that I would lose the jersey after today.”
The former (and current ‘cross) world champion showed the effects of his earlier efforts in the week as the Tour reached the punishing slopes of the Mûr-de-Bretagne. MvdP said he finds it hard to understand how some riders recover so quickly, and said he was glad his main focus remains on the Spring Classics. Still, he took a lot of satisfaction from his final day in the yellow jersey — perhaps even more than the earlier ones — knowing he was likely to lose it. Returning to the site of his 2021 stage win and first stint in yellow made the moment more meaningful.
Van der Poel kinda knew
He did say that he had gone into the day knowing it would be nearly impossible to keep the race lead. Once on the Mûr-de-Bretagne, the outcome became obvious. The climb was brutally hard, and he was nearly dropped the first time up. That only deepened his appreciation for his victory there four years ago, he said.
This weekend, there are two flat stages, so in theory, sprinters or a break would rejoice? Who knows anymore.
Monday, which would normally be a rest day, ain’t. As much as the French love to have July for a break, les gars are racing. Why? Quatorze juillet, obvi. Bastille Day, celebrated on July 14, marks the anniversary of the 1789 storming of the Bastille prison in Paris, a key event in…
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