Stage Winner: Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates)
GC Leader: Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates)
The 198-kilometer stage from Loudenvielle to Plateau de Beille saw several key climbs, including another brutal mountaintop finish. While a small breakaway containing Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) made a valiant attempt, it came down to the two GC leaders battling up the top of the final climb. But it was once again Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), with a perfectly timed attack in the final five kilometers, who had plenty of time to enjoy the win and add a significant amount to his GC lead heading into the final rest day.
This stage didn’t just finish with a climb; it also kicked off with one—the Col de Peyresourde, with a 7.8 percent gradient. Instantly, the sprinters were in trouble as the climbers set a brutal pace. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quickstep) and Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) got into the lead group. Some of yesterday’s top riders from the breakaway, including David Gaudu (Groupama–FDJ), Oier Lazkano (Movistar Team), and Ben Healy (EF Education-Easypost), were all active at the front, with Gaudu taking the top honors on the climb.
As the climbers were absorbed back into the peloton as the course flattened a bit, a 20-man breakaway was the next to go, including green jersey holder Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty), Rui Costa (EF Education-EasyPost) and Magnus Cort (Uno-X). The riders made it through the first sprint in the lead, but began to shatter afterward, thanks to the climbs.
Heading into the Col de Menté climb, two of the breakaway groups united to form a 15-man group that included three Movistar riders, Magnus Cort and Tobias Halland Johannessen of Uno-X, Simon Yates (Jayco-AlUla), three Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe riders, and Carapaz and Ben Healy of EF Education-EasyPost. This group managed to create a sizable gap of over three minutes around the halfway point. None of the riders in the breakaway were any danger to the top riders in the GC, and UAE Team Emirates and Visma-Lease a Bike seemed comfortable in the peloton behind.
A split in the breakaway saw Healy, Enric Mas, and Javier Romo of Movistar, Laurens de Plus (INEOS Grenadiers), Jai Hindley, Bob Jungels, and Matteo Sobrero of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe in the lead. Jungels and Romo were dropped as they hit the Col d’Agnes climb, and Healy seemed to elect to drop back to his teammate Carapaz to pace him up the climb and into the lead group.
Mas, Hindley, De Plus, and Carapaz took the lead at the top of Col d’Agnes, with De Plus taking top honors on the climb with one descent and one climb left in the stage. Behind them, Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X) trailed by 35 seconds, and Healy and Yates were behind.
Johannessen was able to close the gap to the leaders on the descent as the peloton drew closer. The riders began the final climb on the Plateau de Beille—a 15.8-kilometer climb with an average 7.9 percent gradient. The peloton drew closer, dropping the gap to less than 90 seconds, and the lead group began to attack each other to try to keep the peloton away, with Carapaz and Hindley leading the charge.
The three GC leaders in the peloton, Pogačar, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), and Evenepoel, looked comfortable. Pogačar’s teammate João Almeida was dropped, potentially costing him in the GC—he sat fourth heading into today’s stage, but began to fight back on the climb. Canadian Derek Gee (Premier Tech) seemed to struggle on the climb as well, but stayed with the dwindling peloton.
Mas was the next to attack as the gap dropped to below a minute, but Johannessen and Carapaz were able to go with him.
In the peloton, clearly thinking about yesterday’s stage, Vingegaard opted to be the aggressor and attacked with 10 kilometers to go, and Pogačar was right on his wheel. Evenepoel couldn’t follow, though he refused to admit defeat and continued to chase. Vingegaard and Pogačar sped up the hill brutally fast, closing on the breakaway within moments. Vingegaard and Pogačar rocketed past the breakaway, and Carapaz was narrowly able to get on their wheels while Mas was dropped.
With five kilometers to go, it was clear that the race would come down to Vingegaard and Pogačar as Evenepoel lost more time, his gap growing to over a minute. As Vingegaard looked over his shoulder as they approached a hairpin turn, Pogačar attacked, brutally opening an immediate gap as he went around the corner, with a 10-second gap within under a minute.
By the time he hit the finish line, Pogačar had grown the gap over Vingegaard to 1:10, opening his GC lead hugely. Evenepoel lost even more time, 2:51 down on Pogačar, but held on to his third place in the GC. Quickstep-Soudal’s Mikel Landa was the next to cross the line in fourth, followed by João Almeida, who made a valiant comeback on the final climb, holding his fourth place in the GC. Carapaz was awarded the most combative rider for his effort on the final climb and his huge effort to bridge up to the breakaway earlier in the stage.
“When we came to the bottom of the last climb, I was a little at my limit, and Jonas tried to drop me, but I saw that he was suffering a little bit,” Pogačar said after the stage. “Now it’s a comfortable lead. We just need to stay focused the next six days.”
Molly writes about cycling, nutrition and training with an emphasis on bringing more women into sport. She's the author of nine books including the Shred Girls series and is the founder of Strong Girl Publishing. She co-hosts The Consummate Athlete Podcast and spends most of her free time biking and running on trails, occasionally joined by her mini-dachshund.
