By Vincent Daheron
COL DE LA COUILLOLE, France (Reuters) -Tadej Pogacar inched closer to securing his third Tour de France title after outwitting his main rival, defending champion Jonas Vingegaard, to win the penultimate stage on Saturday.
The Slovenian claimed his fifth stage win of this year’s edition by outsprinting Vingegaard in the final metres of the 132.8-km mountain trek from Nice after the Dane had run out of steam while looking to cement his second place overall in the final kilometres.
There was no mercy from UAE Emirates rider Pogacar, who stayed in Vingegaard’s slipstream in the final kilometres, and put the hammer down 250 metres from the line.
“I ejoyed it very much, I couldn’t be happier with another stage win,” said Pogacar, who now has 16 Tour stage victories to his name.
“Just one more day and tomorrow I think I’m going to enjoy it as well. If you had told me this before the Tour I would not have believed it.”
Overall, Pogacar, who won the Tour in 2020 and 2021 before being toppled by Vingegaard in the last two editions, leads the Dane by five minutes and 14 seconds with Belgian Remco Evenepoel in third place, a further 2:50 behind.
It was a cruel end to the stage for Vingegaard, who had been looking to gain time over Evenepoel, whose earlier attack in the Col de la Couillole backfired.
“Vingegaard showed today he was not easy to crack and he did a good ride today,” said Pogacar.
“Tomorrow let’s stay safe.”
The Tour ends on Sunday with an individual time trial between Monaco and Nice – the first time in the 121-year history of the race that it will not end in Paris due to the upcoming Olympic Games, which start on July 26 in the French capital.
Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz, who featured in the day’s breakaway and took third place on the stage with another bold ride, made sure he would take home the polka dot jersey for the mountains classification, while Biniam Girmay of Eritrea secured the green jersey for the points classification.
Evenepoel attacked 8 km from the finish but it was too brief an effort for the Belgian to have a hope of leapfrogging the defending champion in the general classification.
Vingegaard later countered and only Pogacar could follow, leaving Evenepoel glued to the tarmac.
Pogacar was content to stay on Vingegaard’s wheel, and finished him off with a brutal acceleration, leaving his fierce rival to cross the line with his head down.
(Reporting by Julien PretotEditing by Toby Davis and Frances Kerry)
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