Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) attacked Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) on the ultimate two climbs of stage 17 to SuperDévoluy, gaining a number of further seconds and touchdown a psychological blow on the Dane because the 2024 Tour de France nears the decisive Alpine levels.
The time good points have been marginal however vastly symbolic. Pogačar confirmed his large rival he’s nonetheless robust after dominating the Pyrenees and in a position to damage him, whereas Evenepoel is now lower than two minutes down on Vingegaard within the combat for second.
“I stretched my legs on the ultimate climb. I don’t even know myself why I attempted one thing in the present day however I gained a number of seconds on Jonas, so I’m proud of that,” Pogačar mentioned of his assault.
The 177.8 km stage was filled with assaults from riders preventing for the stage victory. A breakaway lastly acquired away after continuous assaults, with Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) profitable the stage.
Pogačar and the peloton appeared glad to trip rigorously to the end. But when Matteo Jorgenson and Wilco Kelderman have been distanced, Vingegaard was left alone. Pogačar sensed an event and attacked laborious on the Col du Noyer with 13 km to go.
Vingegaard tried to chase however suffered and misplaced the wheel. Then Evenepoel got here previous him. On the descent, Vingegaard caught the Belgian with the assistance of teammate Christophe Laporte who had been within the breakaway. They labored collectively to catch Pogačar on the descent however the assaults weren’t over.
Evenepoel jumped alone on the ultimate 3.8km climb and managed to achieve 12 seconds on Vingegaard on the line. Pogačar sat behind Vingegaard on the gradual climb to the end in Superdévoluy after which attacked him once more 300 metres from the end, gaining two seconds on the line.
Each assault appeared to spice up Pogačar’s morale and damage Vingegaard.
Pogačar now leads Vingegaard by 3:11, with Evenepoel third general at 5:09. The Slovenian’s UAE teammate João Almeida is fourth at a distant 12:57, highlighting the chasm between the rostrum contenders and the remainder of the Tour de France peloton.
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