Poker game instead of climbing fireworks on the bank holidays: Tadej Pogacar only delivered the expected spectacle on the Grand Colombier in the final kilometre and missed out on defending champion Jonas Vingegaard's next impact hit at the 2023 Tour de France.
Michal Kwiatkowski wins 13th stage on the Grand Colombier
The Slovenian made up a few seconds on his Danish rival by finishing third in the breakaway won by Michal Kwiatkowski. After the third mountain finish of the 110th Tour de France, Pogacar is now only nine seconds behind the leader Vingegaard.
Pogacar's team rode at high speed into the final climb in the French part of the Jura. Vingegaard, who wore the yellow jersey for the 18th time in his career, did not leave the overall runner-up's rear wheel and practically manhandled him. Pogacar returned to the Grand Colombier with fond memories. In 2020, he had already won the Tour de France stage to the 1501 metre-high summit.
Zimmermann just behind the top
It wasn't until the final kilometre that Pogacar took heart and launched one of his famous explosive attacks. Vingegaard let go after around 200 metres, but still managed to limit the damage and crossed the finish line just behind Pogacar. Georg Zimmermann stayed in the day's escape group for a long time, but had no chance of victory. "It's a bit of a shame that I didn't get there. I didn't make any mistakes today. It's a bit unfortunate that the overall classification riders flew past me in the end," said the 25-year-old.
French National Day
In the past, the bank holidays at the Tour de France has repeatedly given rise to stories that are still told today. Seven years ago, Chris Froome jogged up Mont Ventoux in the yellow jersey as if out of his mind because his bike was broken. Twenty years ago, the Spaniard Joseba Beloki crashed on a descent on the way to Gap; Lance Armstrong, who was riding behind him, swerved and crashed across a field. 25 years ago, the nurse Willy Voet, who had been arrested with various doping substances, broke his silence in custody and the Festina scandal escalated.
There were initially no historic incidents on Friday. After a good 30 kilometres, there was a group of 19 riders, including Zimmermann. The rider from Augsburg had already finished second on Tuesday and was hoping for another chance to win the stage. But Pogacar was in the mood for victory and therefore had something against it. The two-time Tour de France winner sent his team to the front of the peloton, keeping the group's lead at around two minutes for long stretches. It was correspondingly fast. More than 50 kilometres were covered in the first hour of the race alone, and after two hours the average was barely less.
Next mountain stage awaits on Saturday
On Saturday, the 151.8 kilometre route to Morzine is the next really tough Alpine stage. Three first-category mountains have to be climbed before there are even bonus seconds on the highest-category Col de Joux Plane. Hardly any time can be made up on the twelve kilometre descent to the finish.
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