When the 111th Tour de France entered the Alps and France on Tuesday, Tadej Pogačar ripped back the yellow jersey from Richard Carapaz after his 12th career Tour victory. Pogačar dropped all his rivals on the legendary Galibier and descended like a stone into Valloire, crossing the line 35 seconds ahead of Remco Evenepoel, Primoz Roglič and teammate Juan Ayuso. He leads Evenepoel by 45 seconds. Derek Gee was +3:07 in 17th place on Tuesday.
The Course
The first day in the high mountains–and France–started with 50 km of climbing from the start town of Pinerolo, although Cat. 2 Sestrières was “only” 39.2 km long. The middle climb was Cat. 2 Col de Montgenèvre in France. The last ascent was the mighty HC-rated Col du Galibier, a long ascent that contained the Col du Lautaret, cresting 20 km from the line in Valloire. Although Galibier is 5.1 percent average, it’s steeper near the top.
Sestrieres (39.9km, 3.7%), Col de Montgenevre (8.3km, 5.9%) and Col du Galibier (23km, 5.1%) on the menu for the day the #TDF2024 peloton enters in France. pic.twitter.com/wAFsSYbSxA
— Soudal Quick-Step Pro Cycling Team (@soudalquickstep) July 2, 2024
Ninety kilometres shorter than Monday’s stage, Tuesday seemed like the kind of day that would elicit a big breakaway, and sure enough 19 riders got clear. Mathieu van der Poel was present, and the best positioned on GC were Warren Barguil and Odd Christian Eiking. The Israel-Premier Tech Canadians’ teammate Stephen Williams took the maximum KOM points 2:00 ahead of the peloton. Most of the sprinters were in a grupetto.
In France, Williams scored again on Col de Montgenèvre. On the descent UAE-Emirates put everyone on notice by causing a temporary split in the peloton.
Col du Galibier
The escapees headed up Galibier with a 2:50 lead. As UAE-Emirates started to turn the screws, fugitive David Gaudu accelerated, creating a leading quartet. Headwinds were making things difficult for everyone. With 26 km remaining, the break was caught by UAE. Simon Yates was the first major player to fade. Tom Pidcock was dropped next.
Richard Carapaz couldn’t keep up. His time in yellow was over.
Derek Gee, Enric Mas, Aleksandr Vlasov and one-time race leader Romain Bardet all fell away.
Vingegaard was isolated in the group. Adam Yates finished his job up front and retired from the pace. Roglič looked like he was in danger. João Almeida…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Canadian Cycling Magazine…