Pogačar in Driver’s Seat at Tour—But Prior Tourmalet Stage Shows Nothing Is Certain

It’s easy to fall into the trap of presuming the 2026 Tour de France is already done and dusted, even if there are 15 more stages to go.

Tadej Pogačar put in what he regards as one of his “top five” most impressive victories of his career on Thursday, annihilating the opposition on the first big climbing stage of the Tour.

He followed UAE Emirates-XRG teammate Isaac del Toro when the Mexican rider pushed forward 4.8km from the summit of the Tourmalet, then went solo 500 meters later.

He gained time on everyone on the remainder of the climb, on the descent and on the ascent to the finish at Gavarnie-Gèdre, eventually finishing 2:38 ahead of Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and 2:57 ahead of Del Toro.

“I think top-five, I would say,” when asked where this victory rated in terms of his best wins.

“I got flashbacks to what was the stage also in Tourmalet in 2023.”

On that occasion Pogačar went into the race as the big challenger to Vingegaard, the shock winner in 2022. The Tourmalet appeared also on stage 6 that year and while the finish was different, the overall profile was quite a similar one.

Curiously, there was another parallel too: French President Emmanuel Macron was in attendance both then and on Thursday.

Back in 2023 Vingegaard tried to drop Pogačar on the Tourmalet, and again with 4.6km remaining, but was unable to do so. The Slovenian then made his own bid for success with 2.8km left and immediately distanced the Dane, eventually reaching the line 28 seconds clear.

That win was far less dominant, but there is a takeaway: Pogačar appeared to be the stronger of the two on that stage. However he would go on to lose the Tour, being hammered in the stage 16 time trial and blowing up on the following stage to Courchevel.

This time around he’s definitely in the driver’s seat, both in light of the margin of his win on Thursday and also his current 2:42 gap in the general classification.

Still, that stage of three years ago shows that a rider can appear to be the strongest one day, but things can dramatically change deeper into the Tour.

Jonas Vingegaard will cling onto that hope, and indeed underlined his belief Thursday afternoon that the race is far from over.

‘If we explode we explode’

For now, though, Pogačar is exactly where he wants to be.

“I woke up at seven in the morning and already my mind was going crazy, so I was really, really excited for today,” he said.

“All the guys were really hyped, so I knew it would be a good day. We just committed. We were going like [with] nothing to lose. If we explode we explode but in the end we succeeded and I am super proud of everybody. Today was crazy team work.”

Team boss Mauro Gianetti was, as ever, there at the finish line waiting to congratulate his rider.

He said that Del Toro — who ended up third after sitting on the chase group — was vital to how things worked out. So too the decision to attack on the Tourmalet rather than waiting for later.

“It was the plan because we knew the last climb was not so steep. And the risk was to be on the bottom of the last climb with a small group of six, seven, eight riders, that we should react to any attack because it would be different.

“Having Isaac (del Toro) in the second group was key, because having Isaac there they were pulling but probably nobody was really fully gas pulling so as not to bring Isaac also in front. So it was a good move.”

Wishing for a delay in taking yellow

An added bonus to how things went was that the overnight leader Torstein Træen cracked on the climb and was set to lose his race lead, despite a huge gap between the two riders on Thursday morning.

A tough day unfortunately became even more complicated for the Norwegian when he crashed on the descent, something Pogačar referenced when assessing how things turned out.

“In my mind I left everything to coincidence, whatever happens happens. I was not calculating any seconds or minutes or who is going to win or whatever. I just wanted to go all the way to the finish full gas.

“I thought I would not take the yellow jersey today because of Torstein Træen. I heard now that he crashed really bad from Tourmalet. It is quite a shit downhill, really dangerous if you miss a corner. I hope he is okay.

“I would still maybe prefer if he could keep the jersey today. I hope he recovers fast and that he can continue racing.”

Traen is unfortunately out of the Tour, finishing the stage but later being diagnosed with fractures and a concussion. He’ll make his way homewards while Pogačar and the rest of the field will continue on, ready to do battle when the race returns to the mountains in the days ahead.

Confidence is soaring within UAE Emirates-XRG but, bearing in mind the lessons of 2023, it’s far too soon to make presumptions about the final outcome.

That’s even more so the case with Vingegaard still building sharpness, following what has been a long break from competition.

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