Seven hundred and eighteen days. It might be hard to believe, but before Sunday, that's how long had passed since Tadej Pogačar last wore the yellow jersey at the Tour de France.
That day, almost two years ago, a Jumbo-Visma onslaught left him isolated, hunched over his bars, dragging himself frantically up the Col du Granon. He tried to regain yellow since that fateful day – he won three more stages on the way – but the golden threads alluded him until now, in a baking-hot Bologna, where the former king was reunited with his crown.
