Jonas Vingegaard’s Jumbo-Visma team will not need reminding that the last time they had the yellow jersey of Tour de France leadership, Tadej Pogacar exacted the most terrible revenge, ruthlessly usurping fellow Slovenian Primoz Roglic on the penultimate day of the 2020 Tour, to take his first win in Paris.
But on the terrible slopes of the Col du Granon, it was the Dutch team’s turn to inflict pain. Dramatically put to the sword by Vingegaard on the remote climb, last seen in the 1986 Tour, it was Pogacar who suffered most on the 11th stage of this year’s race as his control of the overall standings collapsed.
The double champion’s 2022 Tour de France campaign exploded in the Haut-Alpes after a series of attacks from Vingegaard lost him both the coveted maillot jaune and, perhaps more damagingly, his aura of invincibility.
“I was a bit surprised that the time gaps were this big,” Vingegaard said after winning the stage. “On the other hand, it was also a super-hot stage. We attacked on the Télégraphe and again on the Galibier, so we really had a plan to make the race hard today. I think the harder it is, the bigger the gaps will be at the end, and I think that was in my advantage.”
But the 25-year-old Dane said that when he attacked he didn’t know Pogacar was struggling. “No, but I took the chance. I didn’t know if he was suffering, but they told me on the radio that it was steeper at five kilometres to go, and I was thinking: ‘Either they make it hard, or I try to attack.’ So that’s what I did.”
His team’s plan to attack from distance and to use Roglic to destabilise Pogacar and his Covid-depleted UAE Team Emirates was on this occasion successful. “That shows how big a rider Primoz is, that he’s really in for this plan and has fought for it,” Vingegaard said. “He really went deep so we could challenge Tadej. It shows the mentality of the team.”
Pogacar, unable to respond, could only watch as his Danish rival opened up a gap that grew bigger with every second. After defeat, in what was one of the modern Tour’s most memorable stages, the 23-year-old remained bullish. “It’s not over yet,” Pogacar said. “Today I lost three minutes, maybe tomorrow I gain three minutes. I’ll keep fighting until the end.”
There are, of course, plenty of kilometres to race until the peloton arrives in Paris on 24 July. On Thursday they tackle the classic Alpine trawl of the Galibier, the Croix de Fer and Alpe d’Huez, perfect terrain for a Pogacar ambush if the Slovenian can rediscover his climbing legs.
But for Vingegaard it was vindication of the attacking riding that has characterised his Tour de France career so far. Second overall to Pogacar in 2021, he has enjoyed the full support of co-leader Roglic in his attempt to dethrone the all-conquering Pogacar this July.
An isolated Pogacar, who had been smiling confidently for TV motorbike cameras at the foot of the 11km final climb, ceded almost three minutes to Vingegaard by the summit of the mighty Granon. In cycling parlance, Pogacar was stuck to the road, no longer dominant and his rivals had seized the day.
One by one they rode past him, isolating him further as he battled the gradient and his unexpected weakness. Vingegaard now leads the race by 2min 16sec from French climber, Romain Bardet, of DSM. The 2018 Tour champion, Ineos Grenadiers’ Geraint Thomas, who is riding a canny and tactically astute race, is now fourth, four seconds behind Pogacar.
It was a climb so hard that Vingegaard did his recce by car, rather than by bike and where the predicted narrative of the Tour, that Pogacar was a level above his rivals and assured of victory, was blown apart. “It was nice to be second in Paris last year but I think probably if I didn’t try anything, I would be second in Paris again,” Vingegaard said.
The defending champion is now stuck in no-man’s land, with Jumbo-Visma ahead of him and Ineos Grenadiers breathing down his neck. But with stages in the Massif Central, Pyrenees and a final time trial still to come, Pogacar will not be underestimated by his rivals for a moment.
“We expected it to go off a bit, and it really did. I didn’t expect Pogacar to crack as he did. But it was a decent day out for us,” said Geraint Thomas. “We’ve just got to keep getting in the mix and see how it goes. It’s all to play for.”
