Gutsy Vingegaard marches towards Tour de France title

Jonas Vingegaard made a giant stride towards a second consecutive Tour de France title when crash-hit rival Tadej Pogacar cracked in the toughest stage of the race on Wednesday.
A day after crushing Pogacar in the individual time trial, Vingegaard went solo some five kilometres from the top of the Col de la Loze (28.1km at 6%) and did not look back despite being slowed down by an organisers’ car and a race motorbike.
He could not catch stage winner Felix Gall of Austria, who attacked from the breakaway 6.4km from the top to move up to eighth overall, but his fourth place at the end of the 165.7-km trek from Saint Gervais was more than enough for Vingegaard to prepare to celebrate in Paris on Sunday.
What was a 10-second gap two days ago is now an unbridgeable 7:35 gap after Pogacar huffed and puffed over the line more than five minutes behind Jumbo-Visma leader Vingegaard.
“I’m relieved to have more than seven minutes but we’re not in Paris yet, there’s some tricky stages left, still,” said Vingegaard.
Just at the top of the brutal hill where the finish line was drawn, Pogacar might have seen Vingegaard’s domestique Tiesj Benoot clinching his fist in celebration, before leaning on his bike surrounded by a team helper and two teammates.
His white jersey zipped wide open, 2020 and 2021 Tour winner Pogacar suffered a spectacular failure 8.5km from the summit of the Col de la Loze, struggling to hold the wheel of UAE Emirates teammate Marc Soler.
“It was the day, when the route was announced, that we said was going to be our day, the day when we wanted to put the Tour upside down and make it really hard,” Jumbo-Visma sports director Griescha Niermann told reporters.
“That did happen, although we did not think it would happen this way. Jonas won the Tour today, I think, barring bad luck.”
Bad luck could have struck in the Col de la Loze, when a race motorbike stalled amid massive crowds, forcing an organisers’ car to come to a halt and another race motorbike to go on the side of the road.
Vingegaard slowed down and zig-zagged through to continue his demolition work until the line, which he crossed with a big smile on his face.
“We were blocked by motorbikes, they were almost falling on us,” France’s Thibaut Pinot, 12th overall, said.
“Some motorbikes probably stalled. Also why do they let cars pass us when the gap between the groups of riders is just 15 seconds?”
‘I’m gone, I’m dead’ – Pogacar’s Tour hopes end in heartbreak
Tadej Pogacar’s slim hopes of winning a third Tour de France title vanished into thin air as the Slovenian cracked in abrupt fashion in the lung-busting ascent to the Col de la Loze during the 17th stage yesterday.
“I’m gone, I’m dead,” an out-of-breath Pogacar said in his team radio as yellow jersey holder Vingegaard was disappearing in the distance. Pogacar, flanked by Soler, crossed the line more than five minutes behind his rival to end up a massive 7:35 behind the Dane in the overall standings four days before the parade on the Champs Elysees.
He spent a few minutes slumped on a chair before saying: “I came to the foot of the climb totally empty. I ate a lot but it didn’t come to my legs. I’m extremely disappointed. It was one of the worst days on a bike in my life.”
It was the day when Pogacar was expected to strike back after being humiliated in Tuesday’s solo effort against the clock, but it quickly appeared the 24-year-old would struggle to deliver.
A few kilometres into the stage, the Slovenian crashed after touching wheels with another rider and sustained a cut to his left knee.
“It was a really unlucky situation. It was on a climb and the guy in front of me slowed down and changed lines and I touched his wheel,” a dejected Pogacar said.
He is, however, already looking ahead, hoping to win Saturday’s penultimate stage, a hilly trek that favours the attacking riders.
“If I recover from today yes, I want my team to get a stage win, we’ll try for Adam (Yates), anyone from the team. If someone can win we’ll try it. I thought about that at the start of the climb.”
Briton Yates is still third overall, 10:45 off the pace and with a 1:16 lead over fourth-placed Carlos Rodriguez of Spain.
Pogacar might have paid a price for his repeated attacks earlier in the race, and hampered preparations after fracturing his wrist in April.
“When you always go on the attack you, make yourself vulnerable and then it’s easier for the other one to make a big difference,” Vingegaard said.