{"id":2035778,"date":"2026-07-09T17:57:47","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T14:57:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2035778"},"modified":"2026-07-09T17:57:47","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T14:57:47","slug":"this-was-supposed-to-be-the-closest-tour-de-france-in-years-it-lasted-six-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2035778","title":{"rendered":"This Was Supposed to Be the Closest Tour de France in Years. It Lasted Six Days."},"content":{"rendered":"
The 2026 Tour de France was supposed to be the closest in years.<\/p>\n
Tadej Poga\u010dar needed just six stages to blow that storyline to pieces.<\/p>\n
The first mountain finish of the 2026 Tour delivered the same brutal truth that the peloton\u2019s been struggling with for years: when Poga\u010dar goes, no one can follow.<\/p>\n
The mood of quiet optimism in Barcelona quickly went to gloom as soon as Poga\u010dar attacked at about 5km to go on the mythic Col du Tourmalet.<\/p>\n
Poga\u010dar took 2:38 on Jonas Vingegaard in one stage and that\u2019s already about half of his winning margin from the 2025 drubbing.<\/p>\n
From everyone from Juan Ayuso to French phenom Paul Seixas, the stage quickly devolved into damage control.<\/p>\n
The 2026 Tour is far from over, but GC battle certainly feels that way.<\/p>\n
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Jonas Vingegaard: \u2018The fight is not over\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\nVingegaard congratulates Poga\u010dar at the line. <\/span> (Photo: Dario Belingheri\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
For Vingegaard, the climbing stage to Gavarnie delivered a stinging disappointment.<\/p>\n
After taking yellow in the opening stage and feeling confident after winning the Giro d\u2019Italia, he truly believed he was ready to challenge Poga\u010dar at the Tour.<\/p>\n
The two-time Tour winner couldn\u2019t hide his disappointment at the line.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a very tough day. It was not the day I wanted, obviously, but that\u2019s how it is sometimes,\u201d Vingegaard said.<\/p>\n
\u201cUAE put in a big attack on the Tourmalet, and I couldn\u2019t follow, and I had to settle within my own pace, and over the top, I was not that far. But on a downhill like this, it\u2019s not really suited to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Dane certainly didn\u2019t expect a drubbing this bad right on the first summit finale.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously I am disappointed. I have to be. But sometimes that is life and I cannot change it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI still believe in myself. I still believe my legs will get better throughout the race. So the fight is not over.\u201d<\/p>\n
Visma sport director Marc Reef was equally deflated.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday\u2019s result is indeed disappointing, but we saw a Jonas who fought all the way to the finish line and did everything he could to limit the gap to Poga\u010dar while also holding off the group chasing behind him, which he managed to do well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Paul Seixas: \u2018I finished exactly where I belonged\u2019<\/h2>\nSeixas finished within the lead chasing group in his first major mountaintop finale at the Tour. <\/span> (Photo: Tim de Waele\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Behind Vingegaard, everyone else was licking their wounds and counting their blessings for not losing even more.<\/p>\n
A big group formed and nearly caught the Dane on the final climb to Gavarnie only at 19 seconds back.<\/p>\n
The hunt for the podium might be all that\u2019s left, because there are some big names and even bigger ambitions still within one minute of each other.<\/p>\n
French phenom Seixas (Decathlon CMA-CGM) had no answer when Poga\u010dar attacked.<\/p>\n
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After falling short of latching onto Vingegaard\u2019s wheel, he rolled in for fifth on the stage in his first major mountaintop finale of his Tour debut.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, it was really tough. I think things went pretty well. I managed my climb, and in the end, a solid fifth place isn\u2019t bad,\u201d he said. \u201cTadej was very strong, so chapeaux<\/em> to him. I finished exactly where I belonged.\u201d<\/p>\n
Juan Ayuso: \u2018We\u2019re chasing the podium now\u2019<\/h2>\nJuan Ayuso shrugged off a crash early in the stage. <\/span> (Photo: Dario Belingheri\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The Spanish star at Lidl-Trek thanked his lucky stars for at least being able to stay within Tour podium range.<\/p>\n
A crash on the Col d\u2019Aspin nearly derailed what was already a brutal day.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a crash at the start of the Aspin, it wasn\u2019t the best situation to hit the ground, but the team rallied around me. It wasn\u2019t my best day but I defended myself among the GC favorites,\u201d Ayuso said. \u201cTadej was superior, and that\u2019s not news to anyone, and Jonas didn\u2019t get too much time on us. We\u2019re chasing the podium and that\u2019s what we\u2019re racing for now.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThat I could be in this group after how I was feeling today is a good sign, because if I wasn\u2019t in that group, I could have lost a lot of time.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Z8B_4023.jpg”] Andrew Hood Updated July 9, 2026 12:16PM The 2026 Tour de France was supposed to be the closest in years. Tadej Poga\u010dar needed just six stages to blow that storyline to pieces. The first mountain finish of the 2026 Tour delivered the same brutal truth that the peloton\u2019s been struggling with for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-2035778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2035778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2035778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2035778\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2035778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2035778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2035778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Jonas](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2285369651-720x480.jpg?width=1920&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")
![\"Paul](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2285367404-720x480.jpg?width=1920&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")
![\"Juan](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2285359173-720x480.jpg?width=1920&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")