I love Tajec Pogacar and hate the goon squad who is trying to ring the life out of him. Ergo, the Evil Empire that goes by the moniker of Jumbo Visma.
They thought they had left Tajec for dead but he came roaring back. What a stud! Woooooo
The Tour de France’s 140-Pound Heavyweights Wage a Fierce Fight in the Pyrenees
Two thrilling days in the mountains have left defending champion Jonas Vingegaard in the yellow jersey with two-time winner Tadej Pogacar just 25 seconds behind him
Jonas Vingegaard, right, of Jumbo-Visma and Tadej Pogacar, left of UAE Team Emirates during the 6th stage of the Tour de France.
By Joshua Robinson, WSJ
July 6, 2023 2:51 pm ET
When the map geeks and cycling experts of the Tour de France designed the route for this summer’s race, they were well aware they were breaking with convention. The Tour tends to be a slow burn, easing into the drama of the high mountains over the course of three weeks.
But kicking off the 2023 edition in Spain’s Basque Country, at the foot of the Pyrenees, forced their hand. Organizers would have to put some of the Tour’s hardest, steepest stages in the very first week.
It turned into the most exciting decision they could have made.
Over two pulsating days in the high mountains this week, the race boiled itself to a slugging match between a pair of 140ish-pound cycling heavyweights: two-time Tour winner Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia, and defending champion Jonas Vingegaard of Denmark.
Pogacar seemed to blink first on Wednesday, falling 53 seconds behind Vingegaard. But he stormed back on Thursday with a stunning attack on the final climb that delivered a dramatic outcome: Pogacar won the stage, but Vingegaard wound up in the yellow jersey, as the race’s overall leader, with an advantage of just 25 seconds over his rival.
As the two best stage racers in the world, it should come as no surprise that since their first Tour de France together, in 2021, they have occupied the top two spots of the overall standings 40% of the time.
“I feel a little bit relieved and I feel much better now,” Pogacar said. “It’s almost perfect, the gap. It’s going to be a big, big battle until the last stage.”
Pogacar, 24, had barely raced since breaking three bones in his wrist in a crash in late April. He compensated by training indoors through his recovery and making up what ground he could in the time he had. Knowing that Pogacar might still be short of full fitness, Vingegaard’s Jumbo-Visma squad planned to attack him early in the race. And with the mountains arriving sooner than usual, the team had an ideal opportunity—the Tour hadn’t seen the Pyrenees this close to the start since 1992.
Tadej Pogacar won the 6th stage of the Tour de France on Thursday. PHOTO: MARCO BERTORELLO/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
Jumbo seized the opportunity on Wednesday on the punishing slopes between Pau and Laruns. Vingegaard, 26, reminded the cycling world that he was born to race bikes by putting a 53-second gap into his Slovenian rival. Though Vingegaard didn’t take the yellow jersey then—that went to Jai Hindley of Australia—it was a commanding statement.
The beauty and weirdness of stage-racing is that Pogacar went to bed on Wednesday night worried that he might have lost the Tour de France after conceding 53 seconds to his rival on Stage 5. The whole show threatened to proceed quietly to Paris where Vingegaard would be crowned champion again on July 23.
“Who wouldn’t be [concerned]?” Pogacar said. “The display Jonas showed yesterday was incredible.”
But on Thursday, Pogacar came back angry. Looming ahead of him was the grueling Col du Tourmalet, a 10.6-mile climb with an average slope of 7.3%. And if he knew anything about how Jumbo-Visma raced, then that’s where they would try to finish him off. As Vingegaard began to speed up, flanked by his American lieutenant Sepp Kuss, Pogacar had to act.
“If it’s going to happen like it did yesterday,” he told himself, “we can pack our bags and go home.”
Pogacar held on to the furious pace and stayed with Vingegaard until the summit. But even with the two men still riding together, Jumbo-Visma was convinced that Pogacar was about to break. “You really put Pogacar on the limit,” the team’s sports director Grischa Niermann told Vingegaard over the radio. “Super job.”
Unlike Wednesday, however, Pogacar didn’t crack.
Pogacar tailed Vingegaard down the mountain, through the valley and most of the way back up to the day’s final climb to Cauterets-Cambasque. Then, 1.7 miles from the finish line, he launched his winning attack and took back 28 seconds.
Jonas Vingegaard shakes hands with French President Emmanuel Macron after taking the yellow jersey after Thursday’s stage. PHOTO: ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
The overall gap shouldn’t change again for at least a couple of days now, as the race heads for gentler terrain. But Sunday brings yet another potential battleground with a finish up one of this Tour’s stiffest climbs at the Puy de Dôme volcano. Then the Alps await in the second and third weeks.
What is already clear is that the Tour could be heading for its best mano-a-mano duel in recent memory. Pogacar isn’t ready to let Vingegaard ride away from him yet.
“We tried on the Tourmalet,” Vingegaard said. “We would have liked to drop him there. It would have been perfect.”
Write to Joshua Robinson at Joshua.Robinson@wsj.com
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