The new Danish leader of the Tour de France shows no weaknesses on the king’s stage. In the final he has to fend off two attacks by his predecessor Tadej Pogacar.
Briefly reversed roles towards L’Alpe-d’Huez: previous leader Tadej Pogacar leads ahead of current leader Jonas Vingegaard.
The Alpe-d’Huez is also always a site for the carnival, which is postponed to the summer. On Thursday, the notorious Dutch cycling fans were already downing copious amounts of beer in the orange-painted curve by lunchtime. And jokers rode their bikes in the uniforms of Roman gladiators or English palace guards.
The seriousness of the professional cyclists appeared as a contrasting program. Chris Froome once again decided to break out of the peloton on Thursday. Nothing like this had been seen from the four-time Tour de France winner since 2019, since his bad fall on the edge of the Critériums du Dauphiné. Usually he hides in the field, often enough he rolls with a beaten group. But now he was already attacking on the climb to the Galibier, the first of three mountains of the 12th stage.
A compatriot of Chris Froome wins: Tom Pidcock
And it was like before, when Froome’s appearance almost paralyzed the competition. The only difference this time was that there were no signs of fear or shock in the eyes of those who stayed behind. One discovered rather surprise – and respect – that this athlete, literally crushed by broken bones, still takes on the hardships of this profession and can also psychologically cope with chasing after those whom he once dominated.
On the descent from the Galibier, 37-year-old Froome was joined by his much younger compatriot Tom Pidcock. He finally won the section on the Alpe-d’Huez. Froome finished third.
Behind them, the exchange of blows between the favorites was of interest in advance. The two-time tour winner Tadej Pogacar had to hand over the leader’s jersey to the Dane Jonas Vingegaard on Wednesday. His team Jumbo-Visma took over the responsibility the following day, kept up the pace and let rival after rival fall out. “We knew that it suits me the most when we make the race difficult,” said Vingegaard later. The speed of his helpers was so high that only one dared to attack in the final: the previous leader Pogacar. The Slovenian competed twice. Vingegaard parried twice with almost provocative ease.
Vingegaard was once a worker in a fish factory
In this second week of the tour, Pogacar has apparently found its master in the only 25-year-old Dane, who was shaped by a dual training path: as a part-time worker in a fish factory and as a cyclist – because his former team boss thought it was important that a professional cyclist had an alternative in one normal job.
After the finish, Vingegaard was seen on the roll with Pogacar. The current and the previous leader sat harmoniously next to each other and pedaled in the same rhythm. This parallel should also characterize the coming days, but then again on the street. At that point, Chris Froome was already on the team bus. The jury didn’t even want to award the consolation prize for the most combative rider to the former dominator of the Tour.