Three-time Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar will start stage 13 of the 2025 race on Friday in the overall lead after claiming the first day of racing in the Pyrenees.
Pogacar, who crashed on Wednesday, took stage 12 between Auch and Hautacam to retake the leader's yellow jersey after it spent two days adorning the back of Ben Healy from the EF Education - Easy Post team.
Pogacar completed the 180.6km course in four hours, 21 minutes and 19 seconds.
Arch rival Jonas Vingegaard was two minutes and 10 seconds behind the 26-year-old Slovenian.
“You don’t know how the body reacts after the crash," said Pogacar following his victory.
"But it was not too bad, it was not a bad crash. I feel my hip only when I do acrobatics, but here I’m just riding the bike.”
Pogacar's success pushed him three and a half minutes ahead of Vingegaard in the race which culminates on 27 July along the Champs Elysées in Paris.
Pogacar made his move on Thursday with 11.8 kilometres remaining. Teammate Jhonatan Narváez spotted the chance, looked over his shoulder and allowed Pogacar to accelerate past.
Vingegaard initially gave chase but could not keep up with Pogacar who overtook the French rider Bruno Armirail for the lead 11 kilometres from the end.
It was his third stage win in the race which started on 5 July in Lille, northern France.
