Tadej Pogačar finishes third on final Tour de France mountain stage

Al Etihad

3 days ago

PARIS (AGENCIES)
On the final day in the mountains at this year's Tour de France, Tadej Pogačar did not flinch in his defence of the Yellow Jersey. Finishing third across the line at La Plagne, the Slovenian did not even come under attack on the last climb, such was the pace that he set at the front of the favourites' group.
Unable to put the UAE Team Emirates-XRG man under pressure on the last summit finish of the race, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) sprinted around Pogačar for second at the line, with Ineos Grenadiers' Thymen Arensman taking a well-earned victory after his speculative attack from the GC group. The Dutch climber becomes the only rider to take a stage win in both the Pyrenees and the Alps at this year's Tour.
Content to set a defensive tempo up the final climb to La Plagne, Pogačar did not chase down Arensman or follow his stage-winning attack.
Instead, the 26-year-old sapped the morale of his opponents and crossed the line with his race lead remaining well more than four minutes. Only two stages stand between the world champion and a fourth Tour de France victory.
As for Pogačar, the Yellow Jersey took third place on the day and will now turn his attention to the final two stages of this year's race. With an advantage of well over four minutes in the GC, Pogačar can be confident, but as he stated in his post-race interview, this is no time to become complacent.
Pogačar said, 'We did a very good job until the last climb, and then some teams and riders think they can sprint the 19km of the climb. The pace was incredibly high at the start, and then I was thinking that maybe Jonas [Vingegaard] would want to win the stage also. But in the end, he was just holding on to my wheel.