Tour de France: the brilliant comeback of Tadej Pogacar

Special envoy to Cauterets-Cambasque

Jonas Vingegaard, on the podium, displayed a protocol smile by posing with a new yellow jersey. But he had in the corner of his lips, the bitter flavor of the epic epilogue which escaped him at the end of a dizzying day, led at a hellish pace by his Jumbo-Visma formation which finally completely revived his Slovenian rival Tadej Pogacar. The Slovenian boxer struck in Laruns on Wednesday, with his face crumpled like sandpaper, tamed the first arrival at the top, posed a dazzling smile and a youthful facies in Cauterets. Stunned, the Tour is totally restarted.

The Belgian Wout Van Aert, throughout a crazy stage, awakened memories of the frenzied Tour 2022. He drove, swallowed the difficulties, carried Jonas Vingegaard on his broad shoulders, determined to carry out a vast cleaning, to definitively strangle the suspense of the Tour. The total cycling of the Dutch formation was out again. One by one, the runners gave way. All, except Jonas Vingegaard. Wout Van Aert swerved 4.7 km from the summit. Breathless. Close to losing balance. The star duo Vingegaard-Pogacar (accompanied for a few moments by the Polish Michal Kwiatkowski) had the vast stage to explain themselves and celebrate a brilliant return to the fore.

Tested in Laruns, the Slovenian digested the violent uppercut received. After resisting the violent onslaught and the large-scale collective effort of Jumbo-Visma, the leader of the UAE Team Emirates team charged with panache towards a tenth stage victory by attacking 2.8 km from the arrival. With a beating heart, audacity slung over the shoulder. Escorted by confetti thrown by spectators. Masterful. An answer that says a lot about his ambition, his pride. After tearing up the Machiavellian plan of his rivals, he abandons the Jumbo-Visma team to its regrets and its questions.

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"I wouldn't say it's a rematch, I'm glad I won. It's a bit of a relief. When he (Vingegaard) started riding in the Tourmalet, I said to myself: “M…, it will happen to me again, we will take the bike and we will go home.” Fortunately, I had good legs, I was able to follow him. It will be a big fight until the last stage. I dedicate my victory to Urska (Zigart, his girlfriend, who fell on the Women's Giro on Wednesday)”, slipped the Slovenian.

New yellow jersey with a shine veiled by the thunderous return of his rival, Jonas Vingegaard, for his part, confessed: “It would have been perfect to let him go in the Tourmalet but he was in much better shape… I am extremely happy to to be in yellow again, I love the color. I'm just going to enjoy it every day and I'll keep fighting, we're going to have a very exciting Tour. We will see in Paris.” “Pogacar is, and remains, dangerous. He will never give up. He remains our most dangerous rival. It's hard to win the Tour. This is the goal of the team. From the whole team, from the mechanics to the riders”, summarizes Frans Maasen, one of the sports directors of the Jumbo-Visma team.

Bernard Thévenet, winner of the Tour in 1975 and 1977, is delighted with the showdown and the prospects: “I am impressed and comforted by this new generation which does not hesitate to attack from afar. We come back to a race of instinct, as we did at the time, that pleases me. It is heartening to see leaders taking risks. I really like this Tour de France…”

CLASSIFICATION 6TH STAGE: 1. Pogacar (Slo/UAD) in 3 h 54’ 27’’ ; 2. Vingegaard (Dan/TJV) at 24’’; 3. Johannessen (North/UXT) 1’22; 4. Warrior (By/MOV) 2’06 ; 5. Shaw (G-B/EF) 2’15; 6. Hindley (Aus/BOH) 2’39 ; 7. Rodriguez (Esp/IGD) 2’39 ; 8. S. Yates (G-B/JAY) 2’39; 9. A. Yates (G-B/UAD) 3’11; 10. Bardet (From/DSM)

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION: 1. Vingegaard 26:10:44; 2. Pogacar at 25''; 3. Hindley 1:34; 4. S. Yates 3:14; 5. Rodriguez 3:30; 6. A. Yates 3:40; 7. Gaudu (Fra/GFC) 4’02; 8. 4'42; 9. Pidcock (GB/IGD) 4'42; 10. Kuss (USA/TJV) 5’28…

7TH STAGE, this Friday: Mont-de-Marsan-Bordeaux (170 km), departure at 1:15 p.m.