With a crushing seated attack, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) soloed to his third stage win of this year’s Tour de France on Thursday, and regained control of the yellow jersey.
The world champion put more than two minutes into his GC rival Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), who he shelled near the foot of the Hautacam – the race’s first hors catégorie mountain finish.
The victory on stage 12 dispelled any doubts about Pogačar's condition, riding with a bandaged arm, after he crashed the previous day.
"When we approached the bottom of the climb, it was a reverse story of a few years ago," the Slovenian said afterwards, recalling the day in 2022 that Vingegaard dropped him on the Tour's last visit to Hautacam.
This time, he said: "We did a super job. The team rode really well. Chapeau also to Ben Healy and EF [Education-EasyPost] – they were trying to defend the jersey. They showed a really big spirit. Also Uno-X, they fight for their own GC.
"It was a hard day for everybody, but in the end, we were super strong. We had this stage in mind for a long time."
Pogačar went on to dedicate his win to Samuele Privitera, a 19-year-old Italian cyclist who died after crashing at the Giro della Valle d'Aosta on Wednesday.
"It was the first thing I read in the morning, and I was thinking in the last kilometre about him, and how tough this sport can be, and how much pain it can cause," the world champion said.
Pogačar now leads the race overall by three minutes and 31 seconds ahead of Vingegaard.
Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), too, lost time on the stage. The Belgian was dropped twice on the first day in the Pyrenees, and is now four minutes and 45 seconds down on the GC.
How it happened
In the first of a triptych of stages in the Pyrenees, the fight for the breakaway began immediately from the flag drop. Initial attacks to escape came from stage 11’s winner Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X) and last year’s green jersey Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty), before a mega-group of 50 riders – a third of the entire peloton – went clear.
The most represented team up the road was Ineos Grenadiers, with five riders – Connor Swift, Thymen Arensman, Tobias Foss, Axel Laurance and Carlos Rodríguez, the best placed of the group on GC at 5:44. Visma-Lease a Bike and UAE Team Emirates-XRG placed one satellite rider each in the move: Tiesj Benoot and Tim Wellens.
Charging at an average of 52kph, the breakaway drew out a two-minute gap over the first half of the stage.
Onto the lower slopes of the Col du Soulor – the first category-one climb of the race, which began inside 60km to go – escapees soon dropped away from the front group, which halved in size. Behind, Evenepoel buckled under the pace of Visma-Lease a Bike, and drifted off the back of the GC pack.
Race leader Healy, too, struggled to keep up. The Irishman lost contact with 51km to go, and with it, his reign in the yellow jersey looked certain to come to an end.
Michael Woods (IPT) led the race solo over the top of the Soulor and onto its descent. The remnants of the breakaway, by this point, were strewn out ones and twos, as Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) moved into pole on the short, penultimate climb.
The Frenchman, riding on local roads, took an advantage of two minutes into the mountain finale. Hautacam, an hors catégorie climb, beckoned. At 13.5km, the ascent offered an uneven gradient, reaching double figures at points, and averaging 7.8%.
Having rejoined the GC group, Evenepoel found himself alone again at the foot of the climb. This time, it was UAE Team Emirates-XRG who shook the Olympic champion off, as Jhonatan Narváez led out Pogačar to attack.
The world champion’s sting came with 12km to go. Nursing the injuries of a crash the previous day, Pogačar drove down on the pedals, still seated, and away from Vingegaard. He then chased and tagged Armirail, passing him at speed.
Vingegaard tried to follow at his own pace, but the gap slowly blew up, first to 20 seconds, and then to a minute with 6km to go. It was a scene of role reversal for the Dane, who won the stage on Hautacam in 2022, a minute ahead of Pogačar. This time, he would be losing time.
The world champion waited until he was beyond the finish line to offer his victory salute, pointing to the sky in memory of Privitera. It was a touching tribute, dealt from the sport's number-one rider, to a promising teenager it had just lost.
The Tour de France continues in the Pyrenees on Friday with a 10.9km mountain time trial to Peyragudes.
Results
Tour de France stage 12, Auch > Hautacam (180.6km)
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 4:21:19
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +2:10
3. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +2:23
4. Tobias Halland Johannessen (Nor) Uno-X, +3:00
5. Oscar Onley (GBr) Picnic PostNL, at same time
6. Kévin Vauquelin (Fra) Arkéa B&B Hotels, +3:33
7. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step, +3:35
8. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, +4:02
9. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +4:08
10. Cristián Rodríguez (Esp) Arkéa B&B Hotels, +7:26
General classification after stage 12
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirate-XRG, in 45:22:51
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +3:31
3. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step, +4:45
4. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +5:34
5. Kévin Vauquelin (Fra) Arkéa-B&B Hotels, +5:40
6. Oscar Onley (GBr) Picnic PostNL, +6:05
7. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +7:30
8. Tobias Halland Johannessen (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, +7:44
9. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, +9:21
10. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, +12:12
