The battle for the Tour
de France resumed following the first rest day on Monday. This was stage 10 of
Le Tour, July 14, Bastille Day, the French national holiday.
Four times Tour winner SolvenianTadej
Pogacar was resplendent in the yellow jersey of race leader with an overall
lead of 2-42 on main rival Jonas Vingegaard, Tour winner in 2022 and 2023, also winner of the Vuelta 2025 and the Giro in
June this year.
My Tour guide described
it as a day of hard climbing - a saw-tooth profile - lining up seven climbs one
after the other, with a very tough finish with a high chance of “race-defining”
action.
Or, in other words,
another stage when Pogacar would tear them apart. No one can stop him, it
seems. Baring a bad day, if he falls
ill, or crashes, Pog looks set to win in Paris and join the greats who have
also won five Tours.
So what else can he achieve?
I reckon my previous blog might be right, Pog will be eyeing the record for the greatest winning margin
since Fausto Coppi in 1952, when he won by 28minutes 27seconds from Stan
Ockers.
So it was that Pog had targeted stage 10, among
others, and on this day he would
increase his advantage to more three minutes head of his nearest rival overall,
Vingegaard.
My Tour guide described it as a difficult course
profile not as tough as in the Pyrenees or Alps, but strength sapping all the
same, with a jagged profile presenting three main climbs among seven peaks all
in the latter half of the stage, with summits 1300 and 1500m metres above sea
level.
Take into account the start elevation of 576 metres, these climbs represented a
series of ramps of some 800 metres gain each, enough to split the field but not
enough to stop dropped riders from re-joining, over the earlier climbs at
least.
The highest and longest was the Puy Mary at 136 kilometres; a 7.8km climb at 8.5 per cent, coming with
just under 30km to go.
The first was the Col de la Griffoul after
97kilometres. Riders would need good
legs and to have their wits about them.
History recalls how in 2024 Pogacar had attacked his
great rival Vingegaard on the Puy Mary, but that Vingegaard fought back to
outsprint Pog on the line in Le Lioran. That was quite something!
Where the organisers hoping for a repeat?
This is how the Tour stood that morning as the race faced
another day of scorching heat.
Pogacar had already wrested the lead from Vingegaard on Stage 3 at Les Angles, the first mountain stage, storming away alone – the field paralysed and unable to respond.
In fact Pog's victory lifted him to equal on time with Vingegaard, but he took the yellow jersey based on his higher stage placings.
Next day a clever bit of UAE team strategy saw Pogacar
contrive to lose the jersey when a large
group escaped to dominate stage 4, the race lead taken by Torstein Traeen who was
considered not to be a danger overall in the long run.
This relieved Pogacar and his UAE team from the
weary task of controlling the race in the intense heat that day, and also
spared his GC rivals who had also given that main breakaway of lowly placed men a
miss, to preserve energy. So it was all the main contenders had a day off, so
to speak.
After two flat stages – Pogacar then resumed action, and again picked up his cudgel to whack them on stage 6 and take back the yellow jersey and distance Vingegaard.
This saw him make a superb lone 43-kilometre long attack into the High Pyrenees and over the mighty Col du Tourmalet, breaking the record for the fastest ever ascent of this 17-kilometre monster.
At the finish at Gavarnie –Gedre Pog was 2-38 ahead of Vingegaard. It was his sweetest stage victory he said and his 24th Tour stage win since 2020.
With this latest triumph Pog had taken a firm grip
of the overall classification not usually seen until the final week and the
race was barely a week old!
It was, all were agreed, a mighty step to winning
record equalling fifth Tour victory.
And then came stage 10, another mountainous stage,
another opportunity.
The UAE team once more took control at the head of
peloton, with Pog sitting fifth wheel ready to launch. It is a
familiar scene.
His attack came in the final kilometre of the
second-to-last ascent (with less than 15 kilometres to race). The world
champion blasted clear of what was left of the peloton which once again failed
to match him. He rapidly caught Richard
Carapaz, shot past as if he was on moving roadway reserved for his wheels only.
Carapaz, Giro winner in 2019, who has made the podium
in all three Grand Tours, had been flying both up hill and down, valiantly
out front trying to stay clear. It was to no avail as Pog swept past with barely a glance to go on and easily take the stage victory.
At the line he was 32 seconds ahead of second
placed Belgian Remco Evenepoel, winner of the Vuelta in 2022. French hope, 19-year-old Paul
Seixas was, third.
But Vingegaard dropped back, finishing seventh losing another 44
seconds.
So after stage 10, Pogacar headed the GC, while Vingegaard was hanging
there in second place overall, at three minutes and 36 seconds. Evenepoel was third place at 4 minutes six
seconds.
Stage 11 will see the sprinters back in charge and we can expect Pogacar
to be his usual smiling relaxed self as if the previous day’s torture had been
nothing to do with him.
We await the Jura mountains followed by the Alps when he is surely bound
to go on the rampage again.
