Special envoy to Courchevel
The day after. Jonas Vingegaard’s demonstration in the time trial on Tuesday was on everyone’s mind at the start, this Wednesday, of the queen stage of the Tour which promised an explanation between the strong men. But Jonas Vingegaard found himself alone when, 14.4 km from the finish in Courchevel, Tadej Pogacar broke down. Jersey wide open, face torn with pain, bloody left elbow and knee remembering a fall at the start of the stage (at the 15th km after touching a wheel).
The Slovenian had not sufficiently recovered from the efforts made during the “chrono” and had not digested the disappointment born of the domination of the yellow jersey. In the Col de la Loze, an atypical climb, a narrow ribbon clinging to the mountain, he took advantage of a few welcome strollers from supporters surprised to see him left behind. He clung to the wheel of his teammate Marc Soler like a lifeline. A thread, a landmark when the sweat and the look on the verge of tears he tried to save what could be saved. In two days, the Slovenian will have seen his hopes of a third success on the Tour (after titles in 2020 and 2021) shattered with a crash.
Wrung out, stunned, suddenly deprived of juice, legs, spring, mental, Tadej Pogacar took all the difficulties of the stage, saw the obstacles arise, he who is used to erasing the percentages with a smile and saw falling on the shoulders the weight of the efforts made, day after day, to try to make doubt and waver Vingegaard, impregnable citadel. The Slovenian, breathless, saw his rival fly away. Only to fail, at the end of the effort in 22nd place in a stage that the Dane, even slowed down by a motorcycle, finished in 4th place, 5’45 ahead of his rival. “I don’t know what happened, I came to the bottom of the last climb completely drained. I ate a lot, but it didn’t happen in my legs. I am disappointed not to have been able to push as I wanted”, regretted Pogacar on France Télévisions. “Pogacar never gives up, he will try something again, I must be ready to react”, slipped Vingegaard to try to soften the violence of the verdict.
Since leaving Bilbao, their gap was a mere handful of seconds. Monday evening, the Dane and the Slovenian were still separated by 10 seconds. And it was very difficult to imagine which way the coin was going to fall. 48 hours later, the Dane has carried out a vast cleaning and is heading headlong towards the Champs-Élysées and a second consecutive Tour. Radiant at the end of a breathtaking stage, a test: “One of the hardest of my career, not far from the top 5”, suffered Thibaut Pinot (11th in the stage).
The epic day smiled on the AG2R-Citroën team. After the success of the Australian Ben O’Connor in Tignes in 2021 and that of the Luxembourger Bob Jungels at the Portes du Soleil in 2022, the Austrian Felix Gall has transformed the collective work to impose himself and confirm the know-how of the Savoyard training on the roads of the Tour to shine and snatch a little light from Jonas Vingegaard…
Stage 17 classification: 1. Gall (Aut/ACT) 4:49:08; 2. S. Yates (GB/JAY) at 34”; 3. Bilbao (Esp/TBV) 1:38; 4. Vingegaard (Dan/TJV) 1:52; 5. Gaudu (Fra/GFC) 2’09…
Overall classification: 1. Vingegaard 67:57:51; 2. Pogacar (Slo / UAD) at 7:35; 3. A. Yates (GB/UAD) 10:45; .4. Rodríguez (Spain / IGD) 12’01; .5. S.Yates 12’19…
18th stage, this Thursday: Moûtiers-Bourg-en-Bresse (184.9 km).
