Tadej Pogacar won the fourth stage of the Tour in blissful solitude – the first mountain stage with the finish line on French soil, in Valloire – taking the yellow leader’s jersey from Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz who, in turn, had taken it from him yesterday.
For the Slovenian, it is the 12th success at the Grande Boucle. Starting from Pinerolo and covering 139.6 kilometers, after attacking in the last kilometer of the Galibier, the leader of UAE Emirates preceded by 35″ a trio composed of the Belgian Remco Evenepoel, his teammate Juan Ayuso and the Slovenian Primoz Roglic.
His great rival Jonas Vingegaard was the only one who managed to follow him, but the Dane lost ground just before the summit and was caught on the descent towards Valloire to finally finish fifth, 37″ behind. The first of the Italians was Giulio Ciccone (LTK), ninth with a gap of 2’41”.
In the general classification, Pogacar, who benefited from several bonus points at the top of the Galibier and at the finish, has a lead of 45″ on Evenepoel and 50″ on Vingegaard. Ciccone is also ninth in the general classification, with a deficit of 3’20”. “I’m very happy. It was more or less the plan and we executed it very well. It was a dream stage and to finish alone is really great,” Pogacar commented upon arrival. “I’ve trained a lot here in the past, so I knew the stage perfectly, it was like racing at home.”
“I told myself I could win and make up time, but to do it like this is great,” he added. “We have a good margin ahead and I’m in great shape, better than last year.” He then acknowledged the work of his team at the key moment of the stage: “There was a strong headwind, to stay ahead you need to have big balls. Hats off to the whole team. This win is in my Top 5 at the Tour.” The Galibier made the selection, slowing down the ambitions of Carapaz (who finished 32nd, at +5’10”) as well as many others, starting with Romain Bardet, who took a gap of 9’53”.
Primoz Roglic was held up at the top of the Galibier, but the Slovenian managed to catch Evenepoel’s group on the descent. He is in fifth place, 1’14” behind his compatriot in the general classification. “Pogi” took advantage of the pace set by his impressive Emirati team, despite being outnumbered on the snowy switchbacks. Just before the summit, there were still three of them surrounding their leader, while Vingegaard and Roglic were alone. A testament to this power, Pogacar’s teammate and Spanish prodigy Juan Ayuso is now fourth overall.
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