{"id":2062186,"date":"2026-07-25T07:41:26","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T04:41:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2062186"},"modified":"2026-07-25T07:41:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T04:41:26","slug":"power-analysis-how-pogacar-wrote-more-history-with-record-breaking-climb-of-alpe-dhuez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2062186","title":{"rendered":"Power Analysis: How Poga\u010dar Wrote More History with Record-Breaking Climb of Alpe d’Huez"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2286806459.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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Zach Nehr<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Updated July 25, 2026 07:23AM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

There is a reason that you feel a certain way about Tadej Poga\u010dar. He is special in every sense of the word. There was no reason for him to attack with 12km to go on Alpe d\u2019Huez. It was Stage 19 of the Tour de France, and Poga\u010dar was leading the GC by nearly five minutes. He had been the strongest rider in every stage apart from the individual time trial, and there was illness making its way through UAE Team Emirates-XRG.<\/p>\n

Many of his teammates had been crawling through the previous few stages. Brandon McNulty couldn\u2019t even finish the other day because he was so sick. Teammates ate and slept in separate rooms, not the ideal team atmosphere you want to have before the hardest stages of the Tour.<\/p>\n

Stage 19 of the Tour de France: Racing on tired legs<\/h2>\n
\"Questions
Questions rattled around the peloton ahead of stage 19 of the Tour de France about whether Poga\u010dar was sick.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When the early break went at the beginning of Stage 19, it looked like their stage to lose. All the breakaway favorites were represented including Richard Carapaz, Lenny Martinez, and 4-5 riders from teams like Visma-Lease a Bike and Lidl Trek. UAE Team Emirates-XRG had very little fire power to chase in the peloton, but Adam Yates had made his way into the break despite looking like a ghost on a bike 48 hours ago. That breakaway move would turn out to be crucial for the finale. But first, we had 115km of racing to get through.<\/p>\n

\"Tour<\/figure>\n

Stage 19 was far from the hardest stage of this year\u2019s Tour, especially before the final climb up Alpe d\u2019Huez. That doesn\u2019t suggest that riders had fresh legs; racing had been full gas for multiple days, including a lumpy \u201csprint\u201d stage two days ago won by Jasper Philipsen.<\/p>\n

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The first portion of Stage 19 was a tale of two races: one in the breakaway and one in the peloton. The breakaway was racing to the bottom of Alpe d\u2019Huez, looking to gain as big of an advantage as possible. But riders in the breakaway also wanted to drop each other \u2013 just wait till we discuss what happened on the final climb.<\/p>\n

In the peloton, the pace was tough but manageable for the GC contenders. Most arrived at the base of the Alpe with as good of legs as you can have on the 19th stage of a Grand Tour. When the breakaway crossed the KOM banner to begin Alpe d\u2019Huez, one of two stopwatches started. First, we needed to know the breakaway\u2019s advantage on the peloton. The second stopwatch would start ticking once Tadej Poga\u010dar began the ascent. If there was anyone that was going to break Marco Pantani\u2019s climbing record that has stood for more than 30 years, it was going to be Tadej Poga\u010dar.<\/p>\n

The breakaway started climbing Alpe d\u2019Huez about three and a half minutes ahead of the peloton. It was a gap that wasn\u2019t insurmountable for a hard-charging Poga\u010dar. But there were also a few riders in the break that are among the best climbers in the world: Carapaz, Martinez, and Sepp Kuss, to name a few.<\/p>\n

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Attacks began almost immediately, both in the breakaway and what was left of the peloton. Carapaz began launching his trademark: a 30-second out of the saddle sprint that is completely unsustainable on a 13km climb. But as we saw in Stage 18, the strategy sometimes works, demoralizing his competitors as the Ecuadorian settles into a much more manageable tempo. Unfortunately for Carapaz, there were two riders from the breakaway that could match his accelerations for the majority of the climb. Kuss and Martinez were able to follow Carapaz until the last few kilometers, when the Ecuadorian finally broke away from Kuss. But there was another story unfolding behind.<\/p>\n

Poga\u010dar makes record-breaking attack<\/h2>\n
\"Poga\u010dar
Poga\u010dar launched out of the GC group 12km from the summit of Alpe d\u2019Huez<\/span> (Photo: Tim de Waele\/Getty Images))<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With 12km to go on Alpe d\u2019Huez, Poga\u010dar dropped the GC competitors off his wheel. We\u2019re not sure anyone tried to follow him. Indeed, this was one kilometer into a 13km climb with an average gradient over 8%. It was extremely risky to go over your limit so early in the climb, but that\u2019s exactly what Poga\u010dar forced them to do. The yellow jersey didn\u2019t look back as he powered away in the saddle. By our estimations, the GC group was pushing around 400-450w (6-6.5w\/kg) for the majority of the climb. The way in which Poga\u010dar got a gap, and how quickly he put 90 seconds into the GC group, he was probably putting out 7.1-7.3w\/kg for the first part of the climb.<\/p>\n

Eventually, Poga\u010dar caught up to his teammate, Yates, who had made a miraculous recovery from looking on the verge of hospitalization two days ago. The Brit pulled for Poga\u010dar, not to take on his GC rivals, but to catch the break, win the stage, and set the fastest time ever on Alpe d\u2019Huez. The plan was clear: ride as quickly as possible from bottom to top. Poga\u010dar soon left Yates behind and began closing in on the breakaway. This is the point at which Carapaz and Martinez were beginning to drop Kuss. The yellow jersey overtook the American and set his sights on the leaders with a few km remaining.<\/p>\n

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With 2km to go, Poga\u010dar tried to drop Carapaz and Martinez. But the diminutive duo clung to Poga\u010dar\u2019s wheel, and suddenly, the stage win was not a foregone conclusion. The climb flattened out in the final 1.5km, the Alpe d\u2019Huez Strava segment ending a few minutes prior. But as the road flattened, Poga\u010dar put in another seated acceleration, this one the fiercest of them all. For the first time on the climb, we saw a grimace on Poga\u010dar\u2019s face. The yellow jersey squeezed and squeezed, and eventually Carapaz and Martinez caved. Poga\u010dar rode onto the stage win, securing the yellow jersey and Alpe d\u2019Huez record with a classic Poga\u010dar performance.<\/p>\n

\"Poga\u010dar<\/figure>\n

Poga\u010dar \u2013 Alpe d\u2019Huez Climbing Record<\/strong>
Time:<\/strong> 35:27
Estimated Power:<\/strong> ~6.9w\/kg<\/p>\n

Alpe d\u2019Huez Strava KOM:<\/strong> 32:26 at ~7w\/kg<\/p>\n

\"Poga\u010dar<\/figure>\n

Poga\u010dar didn\u2019t just set the Alpe d\u2019Huez record, he beat Pantani\u2019s time by more than a minute. No one had come close in decades, and many actually doubted Poga\u010dar\u2019s chances. He came into Stage 19 with little motivation left for this year\u2019s Tour. The yellow jersey was basically sewn up, and half of his teammates were sick, injured, or out of the race. Once his #1 rival Jonas Vingegaard crashed out of the Tour, you could see the life drain from Poga\u010dar\u2019s face. Sometimes, it\u2019s hard to tell if he wants to be here or not, wearing the yellow jersey and setting all-time climbing records. But what no one can doubt is his capabilities as a cyclist. Tadej Poga\u010dar can do anything, including crushing climbing records from cycling\u2019s darkest era.<\/p>\n

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With another finish on Alpe d\u2019Huez in Stage 20, albeit from a much different and easier side, could we see Poga\u010dar go for the win again? Or maybe we will see Poga\u010dar work for his teammate, Isaac Del Toro who put a few seconds into Paul Seixas today to gain some confidence in fighting for the GC podium and white jersey of best young rider.<\/p>\n

Best ever? Up there with Plateau de Beille<\/h2>\n

At the end of the day, we cannot confidently say that this is Poga\u010dar\u2019s best performance ever. The Slovenian did a slightly better performance on Plateau de Beille in 2024, and that was at the end of a hot 185km stage. The pace had also been on all day, whereas this year\u2019s 128km stage to Alpe d\u2019Huez was a bit easier. Then again, Poga\u010dar basically did a time trial up Alpe d\u2019Huez. He didn\u2019t have a rival pushing him to his limit. Only in the final kilometer did Poga\u010dar really go all-in to drop another rider. Is this the best Tadej Poga\u010dar has ever been? If not, it is certainly close.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Zach Nehr<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Updated July 25, 2026 07:23AM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2286806459.jpg”] Zach Nehr Updated July 25, 2026 07:23AM There is a reason that you feel a certain way about Tadej Poga\u010dar. He is special in every sense of the word. There was no reason for him to attack with 12km to go on Alpe d\u2019Huez. It was Stage 19 of the Tour de […]<\/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-2062186","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\/2062186","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=2062186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2062186\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2062186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2062186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2062186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}