Surprising turnaround at the Tour! Pogacar suffers a collapse - Vingegaard takes yellow
DPA
· 13.07.2022
Surprising turnaround at the Tour de France
Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe) agonised his way up the steep ramps in the Alps and was forced to retreat when dominator Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) buried his dream of the yellow jersey.
The German hopeful, who had missed out on the maillot jaune by just eleven seconds the day before in Megeve, was at the end of his tether in the first big Alpine showdown of the 109th Tour de France. And the patron also showed astonishing weaknesses: Pogacar, the triumphant rider of 2020 and 2021, lost an incredible 2:51 minutes to his victorious rival Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma), who donned yellow for the first time at an altitude of 2413 metres.
Geschke still in the Tour de France mountain jersey
From a German perspective, Simon Geschke (Cofidis) took his mountain jersey over the high mountain giants for another day. But it was the stars of the sport who provided the marvellous spectacle in temperatures of around 30 degrees - and the Tour was in for a huge surprise.
Vingegaard attacked with 4.5 kilometres to go. Pogacar tried to counterattack, but nothing worked for the seemingly invincible rider. Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), Romain Bardet (Team DSM), David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) or Nairo Quintana (Arkea-Samsic) - all the favourites literally left Pogacar standing on the mountain.
Pogacar suffers heavy defeat
The Slovenian staggered precariously, his jersey completely torn open. It was the biggest defeat of his young career. Pogacar is now third overall, 2:22 minutes behind Vingegaard, who won the stage solo ahead of veteran star Quintana and Bardet. Bardet is now second overall, 2:16 minutes behind the man from Hillerslev in the far north.
"I'm not giving up. I'll try to hold on for as long as possible," Kämna had said before the start in the former Olympic city of Albertville. However, the endeavour came to an end at the Col du Télégraphe a good 67 kilometres before the finish. Kämna had to let the favourites go with heavy pedalling, and by the climb to the 2642-metre-high Col du Galibier, the North German was already more than four minutes behind. "It's just difficult when you were in the breakaway groups beforehand. That uses up a lot of energy," said Kämna.
Jumbo-Visma launches major attack well before the finish line
The 25-year-old was therefore no longer in sight at the front of the grand spectacle. After Pogacar was isolated from his team-mates, the Jumbo-Visma team launched a big attack on the Tour patron. Primoz Roglic and Vingegaard took it in turns to attack the yellow jersey, but Pogacar simply could not be shaken off at the time. Instead, Roglic himself had to pay tribute to the pace and dropped back.
The experienced rider Geschke once again delivered a courageous performance. The 36-year-old Berliner was once again in the breakaway group, battling his way over the Télégraphe in third place and over the Galibier in second. That was enough to successfully defend his coveted white kit with the red dots.
What happens in Alpe d'Huez?
Geschke will therefore be allowed to tackle the 21 most famous hairpin bends in the world in a mountain jersey as you head up to the legendary Alpe d'Huez ski resort.
Hundreds of thousands of fans will once again line the 13.8 kilometre long final climb with an average gradient of 8.1 per cent and create a madhouse. But even before that, the stage has a lot to offer. After the start in Briancon, the riders will once again climb the Galibier and the Col de la Croix de Fer, all mountains of the highest category.
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