
Pogacar out to bury ghosts in final Tour de France week
As the 2025 Tour de France heads into its final and most punishing mountain stages, the defending champion is about to tackle climbs where he cracked or struggled before.
The Mont Ventoux and Col de la Loze await again. But this time, things feel different.
"I'm almost confident to say the route was designed to scare me," Pogacar said with a smile on Monday.
"But I always look at it as a race situation. I actually like all of these climbs."
This year, he has already won at Hautacam, where his Tour hopes vanished in 2022 when he was beaten by chief rival Jonas Vingegaard, who ended up 2:10 behind the Slovenian.
Pogacar is 4:13 ahead of the Dane in the general classification as he marches towards a fourth Tour title.
In his sixth campaign, Pogacar speaks with the assurance of a man determined to make peace with painful memories.
"Col de la Loze, for me, is one of the hardest climbs I've ever done," he conceded. "I'm not looking for revenge. I just want to have better legs than those days in the past."
In 2023, Pogacar experienced what he then called the 'worst day' of his life on a bike when he cracked in the ascent of the Col de la Loze, effectively losing the Tour to Vingegaard.
While the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider appears firmly in control, Pogacar knows better than anyone that one bad day can change everything.
Although Vingegaard has suffered two rare off days, he insists he is not out of contention.
"I do think I can win it. Of course, it looks very hard now — it's a big gap," the Dane said. "But normally my strength is in the third week. We have to attack."
Vingegaard, however, has no illusions about the challenge ahead.
"The biggest difference is my two off days, where I lost most of the time," he said. "But I don't think the gap is as big as it looks. I know that's not my level — I can do a lot better than that.
"I'm also willing to sacrifice second to try to achieve first."
Visma-Lease a Bike's sports director Grischa Niermann underlined the urgency of the mission.
"It's four minutes — you don't make that up with an attack in the last 500 metres," Niermann said. "For that to happen, we need to see a weakness in Tadej. So far, he hasn't shown one. But the Tour is over only when we reach Paris."
Visma-Lease a Bike, however, seem to have lost the collective power that made them a formidable squad in 2022 and 2023, when Vingegaard won his two Tour titles.
"They tend to overtrain their riders and after two or three years, they're completely empty," a senior official in another Tour team told Reuters.
"They have plans, but don't have the capacities to execute them. They should be more humble."
Pogacar is ready for anything that might come at him.
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Straits Times
2 hours ago
- Straits Times
One of the hardest, if not the hardest, Tours I've been in, says Pogacar
PONTARLIER, France - Tadej Pogacar all but sealed his fourth Tour de France title on Saturday after surviving what he claims is one of the most brutal Tours he has ridden, leaving only Sunday's ride into Paris between him and another triumph in the world's greatest race. The defending champion leads Jonas Vingegaard by 4:24 in the general classification heading into Stage 21, which will feature a spectacular finale with three climbs of the Butte Montmartre in the French capital — a twist on the traditional Champs-Elysees parade. 'Every year we say it's the hardest Tour ever, but I know that this year's Tour was something on another level,' Pogacar told reporters after finishing Saturday's 20th stage in the main bunch. 'Maybe one day we went a bit easier, but if you look at the power files throughout the whole Tour, it's been really amazing and tough. Even today we almost went all out from start to finish.' The 26-year-old, who previously won the race in 2020, 2021 and last year, said the gruelling route had tested the peloton to its limits. 'I must say that even though it was the hardest, one of the hardest Tours I ever did, I enjoyed it and had good shape and good legs. Really looking forward to the last day tomorrow,' Pogacar, who has won 10 stages in the last two Tours, added. After crossing the line on the penultimate stage, Pogacar, who on Friday said he was counting down the kilometres to Paris, hinted at a quick return to his bike despite three punishing weeks on the road. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Woman taken to hospital after car falls into sinkhole on Tanjong Katong Road Singapore Students hide vapes in underwear, toilet roll holders: S'pore schools grapple with vaping scourge Singapore 'I've tried everything': Mum helpless as son's Kpod addiction spirals out of control Singapore NDP 2025: How Benjamin Kheng is whisked from Marina Bay to Padang in 10 minutes by boat, buggy Singapore Almost half of planned 30,000 HDB flats in Tengah to be completed by end-2025: Chee Hong Tat Singapore From libraries to living rooms: How reading habits take root in underserved S'pore children Asia Thai-Cambodia clashes spread along frontier as death toll rises Asia Thousands rally in downtown Kuala Lumpur for resignation of PM Anwar "Monday, I travel home, Tuesday maybe I go on the bike. You never know — if I feel good, I do a bit of riding, stop for coffee and enjoy summer at home," he said with a smile. Asked about a possible appearance at the Vuelta a Espana later this year, which could further cement his place among cycling's greatest in case of victory, Pogacar remained non-committal. "We will decide a couple of days after the Tour, after everything is calm. Then we can make decisions for the next races," he said. "I think it's going to be tough to decide. Of course, I would like to go to the Vuelta. Every year I do the Tour and I would like to do the Vuelta one day also, yeah, we will see." World champion Pogacar has won the Tour three times, achieved a rare Giro-Tour double last year, and has already claimed victory in three of the five Monuments - the most prestigious one-day races - prompting comparisons with Belgian all-time great Eddy Merckx. REUTERS


CNA
2 hours ago
- CNA
One of the hardest, if not the hardest, Tours I've been in, says Pogacar
PONTARLIER, France :Tadej Pogacar all but sealed his fourth Tour de France title on Saturday after surviving what he claims is one of the most brutal Tours he has ridden, leaving only Sunday's ride into Paris between him and another triumph in the world's greatest race. The defending champion leads Jonas Vingegaard by 4:24 in the general classification heading into Stage 21, which will feature a spectacular finale with three climbs of the Butte Montmartre in the French capital — a twist on the traditional Champs-Elysees parade. 'Every year we say it's the hardest Tour ever, but I know that this year's Tour was something on another level,' Pogacar told reporters after finishing Saturday's 20th stage in the main bunch. 'Maybe one day we went a bit easier, but if you look at the power files throughout the whole Tour, it's been really amazing and tough. Even today we almost went all out from start to finish.' The 26-year-old, who previously won the race in 2020, 2021 and last year, said the gruelling route had tested the peloton to its limits. 'I must say that even though it was the hardest, one of the hardest Tours I ever did, I enjoyed it and had good shape and good legs. Really looking forward to the last day tomorrow,' Pogacar, who has won 10 stages in the last two Tours, added. After crossing the line on the penultimate stage, Pogacar, who on Friday said he was counting down the kilometres to Paris, hinted at a quick return to his bike despite three punishing weeks on the road. "Monday, I travel home, Tuesday maybe I go on the bike. You never know — if I feel good, I do a bit of riding, stop for coffee and enjoy summer at home," he said with a smile. Asked about a possible appearance at the Vuelta a Espana later this year, which could further cement his place among cycling's greatest in case of victory, Pogacar remained non-committal. "We will decide a couple of days after the Tour, after everything is calm. Then we can make decisions for the next races," he said. "I think it's going to be tough to decide. Of course, I would like to go to the Vuelta. Every year I do the Tour and I would like to do the Vuelta one day also, yeah, we will see." World champion Pogacar has won the Tour three times, achieved a rare Giro-Tour double last year, and has already claimed victory in three of the five Monuments - the most prestigious one-day races - prompting comparisons with Belgian all-time great Eddy Merckx.

Straits Times
3 hours ago
- Straits Times
Groves avoids crash to win Tour Stage 20, Pogacar retains lead
Find out what's new on ST website and app. PONTARLIER, France - Australian Kaden Groves completed his set of grand tour stage wins when he prevailed on the Tour de France's penultimate ride, avoiding a crash on slippery roads before powering to a solo triumph on the 184.2km journey from Nantua on Saturday. Groves's bike-handling skills were on display when he managed to stay up as Spain's Ivan Romeo and France's Romain Gregoire skidded out of control in front of him on a wet descent 21 kilometres from the finish. The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider then attacked from a reduced breakaway bunch and never looked back in the remaining 17 kilometres, bursting into tears in a mix of disbelief and exhaustion after the line. Groves, who gave his team their third victory in this year's Tour after Jasper Philipsen and Mathieu van der Poel also won, has seven Vuelta and two Giro d'Italia stage wins to his name. Dutchman Frank van den Broek took second place, 54 seconds behind, with his compatriot Pascal Eenkhoorn third, five seconds further back. Defending champion Tadej Pogacar spent a quiet day in the main peloton and made another step towards a fourth Tour title as he retained his overall leader's yellow jersey with a 4:24 advantage over Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard. The final stage is a 132.3km ride from Mantes-la-Jolie to Paris, where the peloton will cycle up the famous Butte Montmartre three times before the final laps on the Champs-Elysees. REUTERS Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Woman taken to hospital after car falls into sinkhole on Tanjong Katong Road Singapore Students hide vapes in underwear, toilet roll holders: S'pore schools grapple with vaping scourge Singapore 'I've tried everything': Mum helpless as son's Kpod addiction spirals out of control Singapore NDP 2025: How Benjamin Kheng is whisked from Marina Bay to Padang in 10 minutes by boat, buggy Singapore Almost half of planned 30,000 HDB flats in Tengah to be completed by end-2025: Chee Hong Tat Singapore From libraries to living rooms: How reading habits take root in underserved S'pore children Asia Thai-Cambodia clashes spread along frontier as death toll rises Asia Thousands rally in downtown Kuala Lumpur for resignation of PM Anwar