Tour de France: Gall wins in Courchevel, Vingegaard steals and regains ground in Pogacar

Yesterday, Jonas Vingegaard landed a huge blow on the head of Tadej Pogacar while flying over the time trial between Passy and Combloux. A show of force which put a serious blow to the hopes of the Slovenian before what looked like the queen stage of the 2023 edition. With heavy legs, the peloton embarked on the penultimate big day of mountain with 5100 m of vertical drop on the program and 68 km of pure ascent with the crossing of four major difficulties: the Col des Saisies (13.3 km at 5.3%), then the ascent of Cormet de Roselend (19.9 km at 6%) followed by the climb of the Longefoy coast (6.6 km at 7.5%) before the interminable climb of the Col de la Loze (28.1 km at 6%) for the fourth finish of the history of the Grande Boucle in Courchevel. The leaders had the opportunity to explain themselves and the best climbers in the peloton could hope to slip into the right breakaway to clinch a prestigious victory.

As always, from kilometer zero, the regular breakaways initiated the first movements. A trio made up of Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step), Krists Neilands (Israel Premier Tech) and the polka dot jersey Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) opened the way. After some disturbances at the front of the peloton and a fall of the white jersey Tadej Pogacar, the pace of the race revived and a group of 34 riders found themselves at the head of the race. At the end of the Tour, the leaders in general are starting to take breakaways to try to clinch their stage victory, such as Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious), Simon Yates (Jayco AlUla), David Gaudu (Groupama FDJ) or even Felix Gall (AG2R Citroën) found themselves at the front. On the French side: Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), Thibaut Pinot, Valentin Madouas (Groupama FDJ) or even Clément Champoussin (Arkéa Samsic) have taken the right wheels. The duel for the polka dot jersey did not keep all its promises up front. If the two main protagonists Neilson Powless (EF) and Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) integrated the breakaway of the day well, from the first difficulty, the washed-up American let go leaving the Italian Giulio Ciccone to increase his lead in the lead. of the climbers classification and take a serious option on the red polka dot jersey in Paris. It was on the final ascent of the Col de la Loze that the breakaway exploded. Spurred on by the AG2R Citroën riders, Felix Gall set off alone 12km from the summit. In ambush, the strongest of the day Simon Yates and Rafal Majka (UAE) became allies of circumstance to deprive the Austrian of a prestigious victory. Solid until the end, the rider from the Savoyard formation who had revealed himself on the Tour de Suisse held on to offer himself his first success on a grand tour. After a good number at Laruns, Felix Gall brings the 3rd stage victory in 3 years to the AG2R Citroën team.

While things are moving up front, amazement in the peloton 12.4km from the finish, the heroic second from General Tadej Pogacar so far has completely let go. Victim of a terrible physical or mental failure (or both), the Slovenian quickly lost ground on the group of favorites. A kilometer further, the yellow jersey Vingegaard was not satisfied with his rival's cravings, the Dane was determined to win the stage. After the acceleration of his teammate Tiesj Benoot who blew up Adam Yates, the winner of the last edition found himself in the Col de la Loze in pursuit of Felix Gall. Starting too late and delayed by an incident with motorcycles in one of the bends of the terrible climb, the overall leader settled for a fourth place on the line, 1'52" behind the winner of the day. leader of the Jumbo-Visma now has a lead of '7.35'' over Pogacar and '10.45'' over Adam Yates who widened the gap with Carlos Rodriguez. Simon Yates and Pello Bilbao go back to 5th and 6th place, David Gaudu drops to 10th place despite a fine fifth place on the line 2'09" behind Felix Gall (8th overall).

Tomorrow, Thursday, a calm return to the peloton with a 184.9km stage between Moûtiers and Bourg-en-Bresse which could be suitable for backpackers.