{"id":199148,"date":"2025-07-18T11:32:48","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T11:32:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=199148"},"modified":"2025-07-18T11:33:22","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T11:33:22","slug":"pogacar-whips-the-new-vingegaard-on-first-major-climb-of-the-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2025\/07\/18\/pogacar-whips-the-new-vingegaard-on-first-major-climb-of-the-tour\/","title":{"rendered":"Poga\u010dar Whips the \u2018New\u2019 Vingegaard on First Major Climb of the Tour"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Thursday\u2019s stage 12 of the Tour de France, Tadej Poga\u010dar (UAE Team Emirates\u2013XRG) answered all the questions and replied to all the challenges Jonas Vingegaard and his Visma\u2013Lease a Bike team had thrown at him over the first 11 stages of the race. <\/strong><\/p>\n

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Riding away from a small group of GC contenders with a devastating burst of speed, he left Vingegaard and the other GC contenders gasping in the 34\u00b0C temperatures on the slopes of the HC (beyond category) Hautacam (13.1 km @ 7.8% with ramps of 15%) and took a huge step towards securing the fourth Tour de France victory of his career.<\/p>\n

Poga\u010dar flies up the Hautacam as Vingegaard jogs<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Led out by teammate Jhonatan Narv\u00e1ez, Poga\u010dar<\/a> took off near the bottom of the ascent and with just a few pedal strokes had a lead of some 50 m over the Dane. Though Vingegaard fought hard, he was no match for the rider widely considered the greatest road racer of all time. By the time he crossed the finish line, overheated and grimacing, Vingegaard had lost 2:10 to the winner and now trails his rival by a whopping 3:31. Race over? Considering that the Hautacam was the first of many more brutal climbs to come, I would have to say yes.<\/p>\n

The victory puts Poga\u010dar in the yellow jersey for the third time as former race leader Ben Healy (EF Education\u2013EasyPost) suffered in the heat and finished nearly 14 minutes behind the winner. The Slovenian also became the first world champion to win a summit finish in the Tour since Bernard Hinault did it in 1981.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew the first time I rode Hautacam that it\u2019s a super nice climb. I was always looking forward to riding it,\u201d Poga\u010dar told TNT Sports. \u201cI\u2019m super happy to take time and to win on this climb.\u201d And just to let Vingegaard and other rivals know that they have exactly two chances to beat him, slim and none, when asked how he feels compared to previous Tours, he said, \u201cBased on my feeling, I feel at the best moment of my career.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also paid tribute to Samuele Privitera, a 19-year-old rider for Jayco-AlUla\u2019s development team, Hagens Berman Jayco, who died Wednesday after a crash on the opening stage of the Giro della Valle d’Aosta. \u201cThis stage can go for Samuele, to all his family,\u201d Poga\u010dar said. \u201cIt was really sad. It was the first thing I read in the morning, and I was thinking in the last kilometre about him and how tough this sport can be and how much pain it can cause.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Slovenian is a class act all the way, class on the road and class in his skin.<\/p>\n

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Zobrazit p\u0159\u00edsp\u011bvek na Instagramu<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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P\u0159\u00edsp\u011bvek sd\u00edlen\u00fd \u0160koda We Love Cycling (@wlcmagazine)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n