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Tadej Pogacar won stage 14 of the Tour de France in the Pyrenees on Saturday, extending his overall lead in the Tour de France.
His arch-rival Jonas Vingegaard finished second at 39 seconds, while Remco Evenepoel finished third at 1:10.
Ahead of another furious sprint in the Pyrenees on Sunday, Pogačar extended his lead to 1:57 ahead of Vengergaard, with Evenpool dropping to third at 2:22.
Pogačar extended his lead to 43 seconds with the winning extra seconds, his 13th Tour de France stage victory, and he cheered at the finish line.
“Our plan was to go into the final and then go all out, maybe win a few seconds and win the stage. But the final result was much better,” he said at the finish line.
“I’m very, very happy to get this,” he said.
Pogačar’s UAE team waited until the third and final climb of the day before sending out Adam Yates to attack seven kilometres from the finish line, 11 kilometres from Pla d’Adet.
The British rider waits for rescue after the Slovenian rider attacked.
As Pogačar accelerated hard, his two podium rivals followed closely behind but were either unwilling or unable to match his pace.
On the final stretch of the climb, which was packed on both sides with raucous fans, Pogačar, the 2020 and 2021 champion, kept his pace to the finish line after dropping Yates.
Evenpool, who was wearing a mask in the mixed zone, also looked relaxed and happy.
“I tried to keep up with him but he was crazy,” the Belgian said, thanking his teammates by name for their support.
Saturday’s stage first took the peloton to the daunting Col de Tourmalet, with thousands of fans partying all day.
Before the peloton arrived, the holiday cyclists had covered 19km, at an average gradient of 7.5 degrees, to an altitude of 2,115m, with many pushing their bikes or using electric assist.
– Pidcock exits –
When the peloton set out from Pau, the gateway to the Pyrenees, only 158 of the original 176 riders remained.
Missing out was interdisciplinary maverick Tom Pidcock, the latest competitor to withdraw from the competition due to suspected Covid-19. He was set to defend his Olympic mountain bike title in three weeks.
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Instead, the five daunting peaks should provide further battlegrounds for Pogacar, Vingegaard and Evenepoel.
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