Tour de France: Jonas Vingegaard takes commanding lead

COURCHEVEL, France — After destroying Tadej Pogacar in the race against the clock, Jonas Vingegaard dealt him the coup de grace in the Tour de France with an impressive display in the mountains Wednesday.

Vingegaard is now well on course to bring the yellow jersey to Paris for a second straight year after the Danish rider took a huge lead over his main rival.

The defending champion dropped Pogacar in the last big stage in the Alps to increase his overall lead to seven minutes and 35 seconds. Barring any big crash, he looks set to win his second Tour title.

“Now to have more than seven minutes is just really incredible,” Vingegaard said. “Of course the Tour de France is not over yet, I’m sure Tadej will try something on the last three stages. We’re not in Paris yet.”

Vingegaard finished the 17th stage in fourth place, almost six minutes before an exhausted Pogacar crossed the finish line.

The race ends in the French capital with a largely ceremonial stage on Sunday. There is just one tough stage remaining before then — on Saturday in the Alsace region, with the peloton facing a total of 3,600 meters of climbing.

But with such a big gap between the Tour’s main contenders, it’s unlikely to have an impact in the fight for the yellow jersey.

“We are in a good spot now,” Vingegaard said.

Pogacar, a two-time champion who was dethroned by Vingegaard last year, lost contact about 16 kilometers (10 miles) from the finish at the ski resort of Courchevel.

The punishing trek had been dubbed the Queen Stage of this year’s Tour because of its daunting profile. The last of four climbs was a 28.4-kilometer (17.6-mile) slog up Col de la Loze, close to the uphill finish.

A day after Vingegaard destroyed the field in the race’s time trial, Pogacar did not find the strength to attack and got dropped in the monster climb. His teammate Marc Soler stayed with him to try and pace him back, in vain.

The day had started on a sour note for Pogacar, who crashed just a few kilometers into the 166-kilometer (103-mile) ride. The Slovenian leader of the UAE Team Emirates fell off at a moderate speed on an uphill section near the foot of the Col des Saisies after apparently touching the wheel of a rider.

Pogacar was quickly back on his bike and continued racing to rejoin the main contenders before a group of breakaway riders moved away from the pack.

Pogacar said the crash could have affected him but he did not try to find excuses.

“It hurts a little, maybe it affected my body. I just couldn’t go today. It was not a good day,” he said.

On paper, the punishing Col de La Loze culminating at 2,304 meters above sea level — with some slopes with a gradient more than 24% — looked like the perfect playground for a final showdown in thin air between Pogacar and Vingegaard.

But Pogacar did not have good legs, and the duel never took place.

Once Pogacar cracked, Vingegaard dropped all the riders that still accompanied him, chasing behind the remaining breakaway riders. He first joined his Jumbo-Visma teammate Wilco Kelderman and the pair soldiered on together on brutal slopes.

Vingegaard’s ferocious ride amid huge crowds was briefly put to a halt by a race motorbike that was stopped in the middle of the narrow and winding road up to the summit.

At the front of the stage, Felix Gall resisted the chase to post the biggest win of his career. Simon Yates was second, with Pello Bilbao completing the stage podium.

“This whole year has been incredible. And now to do so well in the Tour de France, to win the Queen Stage, it’s incredible,” said Gall, a Tour debutant. “One and a half years ago I couldn’t imagine I’d be in this position now.”

Adam Yates kept his third place overall, 10:45 off the pace.

Vingegaard took control of the Tour during Tuesday’s time trial. He had started Stage 16 only 10 seconds ahead of Pogacar after little could separate the duo in a fascinating duel over the last two weeks. However, when it came down to a head-to-head battle in the race against the clock, Vingegaard was in a class of his own.

He finished the 22.4-kilometer (14-mile) hilly route from Passy to Combloux 1:38 ahead of Pogacar.

Pogacar had his Tour de France preparations hampered by a left wrist facture he sustained in April during the Liege–Bastogne–Liege classic and required surgery. But his tremendous performances over the first two weeks of racing had erased initial doubts about his Tour form.

“Today was one of the worst days on the bike but I had to keep fighting,” Pogacar said.