[ad_1]
On the identical mountain the place five-time Tour de France champion Jacques Anquetil and Raymond Poulidor wrote themselves into race historical past 59 years earlier, all eyes Sunday had been on Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar’s continued rivalry at biking’s greatest race.
Neither Vingegaard nor Pogacar completed first on the summit of the Puy de Dome after Canadian Michael Woods delivered a formidable solo effort to assert the largest success of his profession.
But the fierce rivals, driving nicely behind the day’s breakaway that they had allowed to kind, had been once more within the highlight.
The 2 have been in a fierce duel because the begin of this 12 months’s pulsating Tour in Bilbao, Spain, and will definitely take pleasure in Monday’s first relaxation day.
Vingegaard, the defending champion from Denmark after he dethroned Pogacar final 12 months, had the higher hand within the first spherical of their battle in altitude. His Slovenian rival responded in model to regain time within the subsequent two mountain phases.
With two weeks of racing remaining, solely 17 seconds separate the 2 within the normal classification, with Vingegaard sporting the yellow jersey.
Jai Hindley is in third place, 2 minutes and 40 seconds off the tempo.
Vingegaard and Pogacar’s confrontation Sunday on the steepest a part of the climb as much as the Puy de Dome was not as dramatic because the duel between Anquetil and Poulidor in 1964, when the 2 French rivals engaged in a “mano a mano” for the ages.
Amid silence reigning within the skinny air Sunday — the street main as much as the highest of the mountain is so slender that followers had not been allowed entry — the 2 teamed up for an additional epic second, once more in a category of their very own, with Pogacar within the position of the attacker.
After one other nice collective effort from Vingegaard’s Jumbo-Visma teammates within the remaining ramp that destroyed the sector, Pogacar launched his assault with one mile left and accelerated once more on the steepest gradients. Vingegaard misplaced floor however didn’t panic and managed to restrict the deficit to eight seconds to retain the yellow jersey.
“It’s not a victory, but it surely’s a small victory, so I’m tremendous pleased at this time,” stated Pogacar, a two-time Tour champion.
Pogacar was the strongest rider up the 8.3-mile ascent, with a pace of 14.7 mph, significantly quicker than Woods’ profitable common of 12.3 mph.
Vingegaard admitted Pogacar’s superiority on the day, however insisted the profile of the Alpine phases nonetheless to come back higher swimsuit his model.
“It will have been nicer to realize than lose time on Tadej Pogacar, however as I stated earlier than, I got here to the Tour understanding that the primary week suited me lower than what’s to come back, so to be within the yellow jersey on the finish of the primary week satisfies me,” he stated.
Woods, who rides for the Israel-Premier Tech crew, has no ambition within the normal classification and was a part of the early breakaway. He managed to catch American Matteo Jorgenson simply 500 meters from the summit after his rival jumped away from the main group with lower than 50 kilometers left.
Woods then dropped Jorgenson relaxed and reached the summit of the Puy de Dome, a volcanic crater within the Massif Central area of south-central France that final hosted a stage 35 years in the past.
“I’m 36 years outdated, turning 37 this 12 months, I’m not getting any youthful,” stated Woods, who additionally owns two stage wins on the Spanish Vuelta. “To win a Tour de France stage was my final objective and I may see the window closing.”
Frenchman Pierre Latour completed the 113-mile stage in second place, with Matej Mohoric of Slovenia finishing the rostrum. Jorgenson ended up fourth.
[ad_2]