Tour de France: Tadej Pogacar loses his yellow jersey – Jonas Vingegaard triumphs on top of the Alps

Vingegaard earned the first stage win of his career straight away and his jumbo racing team for brave tactics was rewarded with early attacks and perfect teamwork.

I didn’t get it yet, what can I say – that’s what I’ve always dreamed of, said Vingegaard beaming after his big show: “We had a plan, we wanted to drive hard, and everything worked.”

With Wout Van Aert and Christoph Laporte, his team placed a duo as assistants in the renegade group, then began the first attacks at the Col du Télégraphe, alternating with Primoz Roglic and Vingegaard, putting pressure on Pogacar. Still self-confident, the Slovenian was able to grip Vingegaard’s rear wheel, thus finally fixing the favorite’s group before the final climb.

At an average distance of 9% of steep kilometers, the 25-year-old launched a renewed attack that Pogacar could not repel. The defending champion suddenly became a shadow of himself, passing opponent after opponent. The final showed how difficult the stage was and how fast: only twelve runners reached 2,413 meters in five minutes.

“I don’t know what was going on. I still felt good at Galibier, then I had one attack after another. In the end I didn’t have good legs anymore, it wasn’t a good day,” Pogacar said at the end, explaining but combatively: “I won’t give up Today I lost three minutes, maybe tomorrow I will win by three.”

Tour: Geschke defends the mountain shirt

Defending his mountain jersey with great effort, Simon Geschke successfully made his way into the breakaway group today and scored points in the first mountain classifications, so he ranked second on the highest point of the tour, Col du Galibier (2642m). He then spoke of climbing as “one of the toughest days of his cycling career.”

Geschke was 8:08 minutes behind 16th of the stage and also the best German driver, while Leonard Kamna slipped from second in the overall standings as expected, finishing the race almost half an hour short of the day’s winner.

All-around star Matteo van der Poel is no longer in the race, the Dutchman gave up on the Tour after trying his luck in the split group at the start.

Thursday’s King’s Theater promises new Alpine fireworks for France’s national holiday, when it rises to the legendary mountain classification of the Alps de Oise. Before that, you must climb Col du Galibier and Col de la Croix Fer, at a total altitude of more than 4,700 metres.