Two-time champion Tadej Pogacar caused a stir at the Tour de France by charging to the front on the final climb of the mountainous Stage 14 to ride to victory and extend his lead in the overall standings to almost two minutes.
The duel of the elite climbers between Pogacar and the two-time defending champion Jonas Vingegaard finally came about when Pogacar pulled away on the key stage on Saturday about five kilometers from the end.
Pogacar caught and then overtook his UAE Emirates teammate Adam Yates, while Vingegaard initially fell back but remained calm and limited the damage.
The Dane crossed the finish line 39 seconds behind Slovenian Pogacar, who completed the 152-kilometer course in just over four hours. Remco Evenepoel finished third and dropped to third place in the overall standings behind Vingegaard.
After about two hours, the riders reached the first of the day’s two major hors catégorie (out of category) climbs – a 19-kilometer, arduous slog up the Col du Tourmalet, one of the race’s most famous Pyrenean climbs.
The second HC climb to the finish in Saint-Lary-Soulan Pla d’Adet was shorter at 10.6 km, but had a steeper gradient.
Irishman Ben Healy was the first to attack, but was caught by Yates, who gave Pogacar the 13th stage win of his Tour career.
The time bonuses for the win added four valuable seconds and increased Pogacar’s lead over Vingegaard to 1 minute 57 seconds. Evenepoel was 2:22 behind Pogacar ahead of another big mountain stage on Sunday.
Jayco AlUla’s Chris Harper was the leading Australian on the day, finishing in 19th place, while Jack Haig, who finished 42nd on the stage, overtook Jai Hindley as the best Australian in the general classification and moved up to 20th in the general classification, one place ahead of the former Giro d’Italia winner.