{"id":2035784,"date":"2026-07-09T21:03:41","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T18:03:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2035784"},"modified":"2026-07-09T21:03:41","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T18:03:41","slug":"pogacar-in-drivers-seat-at-tour-but-prior-tourmalet-stage-shows-nothing-is-certain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2035784","title":{"rendered":"Poga\u010dar in Driver’s Seat at Tour\u2014But Prior Tourmalet Stage Shows Nothing Is Certain"},"content":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Tadej Poga\u010dar put in what he regards as one of his \u201ctop five\u201d most impressive victories of his career on Thursday, annihilating the opposition on the first big climbing stage of the Tour.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
He gained time on everyone on the remainder of the climb, on the descent and on the ascent to the finish at Gavarnie-G\u00e8dre, eventually finishing 2:38 ahead of Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and 2:57 ahead of Del Toro.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think top-five, I would say,\u201d when asked where this victory rated in terms of his best wins.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got flashbacks to what was the stage also in Tourmalet in 2023.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n
ADVERTISEMENT<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
On that occasion Poga\u010dar 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.<\/p>\n
Curiously, there was another parallel too: French President Emmanuel Macron was in attendance both then and on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Back in 2023 Vingegaard tried to drop Poga\u010dar 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.<\/p>\n
That win was far less dominant, but there is a takeaway: Poga\u010dar 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.<\/p>\n
This time around he\u2019s definitely in the driver\u2019s seat, both in light of the margin of his win on Thursday and also his current 2:42 gap in the general classification.<\/p>\n
\n
ADVERTISEMENT<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Jonas Vingegaard will cling onto that hope, and indeed underlined his belief Thursday afternoon that the race is far from over.<\/p>\n
\u2018If we explode we explode\u2019<\/h2>\nAdam Yates helped set up Tadej Poga\u010dar for his big win over the Tourmalet. (Photo: Dario Belingheri\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
For now, though, Poga\u010dar is exactly where he wants to be.<\/p>\n
\u201cI woke up at seven in the morning and already my mind was going crazy, so I was really, really excited for today,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Team boss Mauro Gianetti was, as ever, there at the finish line waiting to congratulate his rider.<\/p>\n
\n
ADVERTISEMENT<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
He said that Del Toro \u2014 who ended up third after sitting on the chase group \u2014 was vital to how things worked out. So too the decision to attack on the Tourmalet rather than waiting for later.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wishing for a delay in taking yellow<\/h2>\nUAE Team Emirates \u2013 XRG\u2019s Slovenian rider Tadej Poga\u010dar grabbed the yellow jersey but would have preferred to have waited. (Photo: Jeff Pachoud \/ AFP)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
An added bonus to how things went was that the overnight leader Torstein Tr\u00e6en cracked on the climb and was set to lose his race lead, despite a huge gap between the two riders on Thursday morning.<\/p>\n
\n
ADVERTISEMENT<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
A tough day unfortunately became even more complicated for the Norwegian when he crashed on the descent, something Poga\u010dar referenced when assessing how things turned out.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought I would not take the yellow jersey today because of Torstein Tr\u00e6en. 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would still maybe prefer if he could keep the jersey today. I hope he recovers fast and that he can continue racing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n
ADVERTISEMENT<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Traen is unfortunately out of the Tour, finishing the stage but later being diagnosed with fractures and a concussion. He\u2019ll make his way homewards while Poga\u010dar and the rest of the field will continue on, ready to do battle when the race returns to the mountains in the days ahead.<\/p>\n
Confidence is soaring within UAE Emirates-XRG but, bearing in mind the lessons of 2023, it\u2019s far too soon to make presumptions about the final outcome.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s even more so the case with Vingegaard still building sharpness, following what has been a long break from competition.<\/p>\n\n
\n
Don\u2019t miss a moment of the Tour de France. Get stage previews, insider recaps, and expert analysis from Velo delivered straight to your inbox with the Velo Tour Daily email newsletter.<\/em><\/p>\n
Sign up for Velo\u2019s Tour Daily Newsletter<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2285371901.jpg”] Shane Stokes Updated July 9, 2026 05:30PM It\u2019s 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 Poga\u010dar put in what he regards as one of his \u201ctop five\u201d most impressive victories of […]<\/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-2035784","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\/2035784","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=2035784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2035784\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2035784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2035784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2035784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Adam](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2285356388.jpg?width=3840&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")
![\"UAE](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2284736823.jpg?width=3840&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")