JONATHAN VAUGHTERS DEFENDS NIGHTTIME DROPPING TESTS, SAYS THEY COULD HAVE SAVED CYCLING 25 YEARS OF DRAMA

Photo: Thibault Camus /AP/TT

Cyclists and teams are complaining about doping tests in the middle of the night during the Tour de France. But the tests are also being defended. “Testing at 2:00 am is effective,” team manager Jonathan Vaughters writes on social media.

The manager of the EF Education team admitted in 2012 that he had doped during his cycling career. He believes that nighttime tests are effective in detecting microdosing of EPO, growth hormone and testosterone.

"If the UCI (International Cycling Union) had tested us at 2:00 AM in 2001, we would all have been suspended, saving the sport 25 years of drama," writes Vaughters.

The 1990s and 2000s were a dark period for cycling when many stars were either caught or admitted to doping, including Lance Armstrong.

Tour de France leader Tadej Pogacar and Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel have called nighttime doping tests inhumane and disrespectful.

- TT News Agency,English edition by Sweden Herald

THE PARTICIPANTS LIST OF THE 2026 TOUR DE FRANCE,.THE BIB NUMBERS AND THE STARTING ORDER OF THE TEAM TIME TRIAL IN BARCELONA

 

The Tour de France 2026 kicks off this Saturday, July 4, with the team time trial in Barcelona 🇪🇸 (see the detailed Tour de France route).

Twenty-three teams of eight riders each will form a peloton of 184 riders for this Tour de France 2026, with Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates XRG) naturally the top favorite, but the field also includes Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma | Lease a Bike), who has clearly shown he’s in top form by winning Paris-Nice, the Tour of Catalonia, and the [[Giro d’Italia]], as well as Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), who is making a fresh start with his new team and would like to put the bitter taste of the Tour de France 2025 behind him, when he withdrew on Stage 14. Also in the field is the young and promising Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM Team), though perhaps he should start by simply getting a feel for the Tour de France during his first appearance at age 19, before thinking about the general classification?

Statistics on the riders and teams participating in the 2026 Tour de France

To begin with, let’s first look at some statistics regarding the riders set to compete in the Tour de France 2026. The 184 riders represent 27 countries in this 113th edition of the Tour de France:

for the first time since 1980, Belgium leads the nations’ ranking with 31 riders

France, the host country, ranks second with 30 riders, and this is the first time since 2007 that it has not been in the lead

the Netherlands rounds out the top three with 17 riders

The average age of the peloton is 29 years and 16 days, and the youngest rider, as mentioned above, is Paul Seixas, who is 19 years and 283 days old today. He is the youngest rider to compete since Adrien Cento in 1937 (19 years and 118 days).

There are 50 riders making their Tour de France debut, including Seixas (bringing the total number of riders to have started in the history of the Tour de France to 5,509).

41 riders are in contention for the white jersey as best young rider, reserved for riders born in 2001 or later.

The oldest rider in the peloton is Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious), who will be making his 8th start at the age of 38 years and 265 days. But the riders with the most starts are Ion Izagirre (Cofidis), Warren Barguil (Team Picnic PostNL), and Luke Durbridge (Team Jayco AlUla), who are each making their 12th appearance.

There will be three Yellow Jersey winners at the start: the riders who have won the last seven editions — Tadej Pogacar (2020, 2021, 2024, 2025), Jonas Vingegaard (2022, 2023), and Egan Bernal (2019).

Following last weekend’s national championships, 11 national road championship titles and 11 national time trial championship titles will be represented at the start, accounting for 20 different riders (Isaac del Toro (Mexico) and Mathias Vacek (Czech Republic) hold both titles for their respective countries).

Participating teams, riders, and jersey numbers

Here are the 23 teams competing in the Tour de France 2026 along with their riders and jersey numbers:

UAE Team Emirates XRG

1/ Tadej POGACAR

2/ Isaac DEL TORO

3/ Felix GROSSSCHARTNER

4/ Brandon MCNULTY

5/ Nils POLITT

6/ Florian VERMEERSCH

7/ Tim WELLENS

8/ Adam YATES

Team Visma | Lease a Bike

11/ Jonas VINGEGAARD

12/ Edoardo AFFINI

13/ Bruno ARMIRAIL

14/ Victor CAMPENAERTS

15/ Per Strand HAGENES

16/ Matteo JORGENSON

17/ Sepp KUSS

18/ Davide PIGANZOLI

Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe

21/ Remco EVENEPOEL

22/ Mattia CATTANEO

23/ Nico DENZ

24/ Jai HINDLEY

25/ Florian LIPOWITZ

26/ Jan TRATNIK

27/ Tim VAN DIJKE

28/ Maxim VAN GILS

Lidl-Trek

31/ Juan AYUSO

32/ Derek JAMES GEE

33/ Mads PEDERSEN

34/ Quinn SIMMONS

35/ Mattias SKJELMOSE

36/ Toms SKUJINS

37/ Mathias VACEK

EF Education-EasyPost

41/ Richard CARAPAZ

42/ Kasper ASGREEN

43/ Alex BAUDIN

44/ Ben HEALY

45/ Sean QUINN

46/ Georg STEINHAUSER

47/ Michael VALGREN

48/ Max WALKER

Decathlon CMA CGM Team

51/ Paul SEIXAS

52/ Tiesj BENOOT

53/ Cees BOL

54/ Daan HOOLE

55/ Olav KOOIJ

56/ Aurélien PARET PEINTRE

57/ Nicolas PRODHOMME

58/ Matthew RICCITELLO

XDS Astana Team

61/ Sergio HIGUITA

62/ Davide BALLERINI

63/ Aaron MURRAY GATE

64/ Max KANTER

65/ Harold TEJADA

66/ Mike TEUNISSEN

67/ Simone VELASCO

68/ Nicolya VINOKUROV

Bahrain Victorious

71/ Lenny MARTINEZ

72/ Phil BAUHAUS

73/ Damiano CARUSO

74/ Kamil GRADEK

75/ Matej MOHORIC

76/ Robert STANNARD

77/ Antonio TIBERI

78/ Vlad VAN MECHELEN

NetCompany INEOS Cycling Team

81/ Egan BERNAL

82/ Thymen ARENSMAN

83/ Tobias FOSS

84/ Filippo GANNA

85/ Dorian GODON

86/ Michal KWIATKOWSKI

87/ Joshua TARLING

88/ Kévin VAUQUELIN

Soudal Quick-Step

91/ Tim MERLIER

92/ Pascal EENKHOORN

93/ Valentin PARET PEINTRE

94/ Jasper STUYVEN

95/ Dylan VAN BAARLE

96/ Bert VAN LERBERGHE

97/ Ilan VAN WILDER

98/ Louis VERVAEKE

Alpecin-Premier Tech

101/ Mathieu VAN DER POEL

102/ Ramses DEBRUYNE

103/ Silvan DILLIER

104/ Tim MARSMAN

105/ Jasper PHILIPSEN

106/ Edward PLANCKAERT

107/ Jonas RICKAERT

108/ Emiel VERSTRYNGE

Team Jayco AlUla

111/ Ben O’CONNOR

112/ Pascal ACKERMANN

113/ Luke DURBRIDGE

114/ Felix ENGELHARDT

115/ Michael MATTHEWS

116/ Kelland O’BRIEN

117/ Luke PLAPP

118/ Mauro SCHMID

Uno-X Mobility

121/ Tobias JOHANNESSEN

122/ Jonas ABRAHAMSEN

123/ Anthon CHARMIG

124/ Magnus CORT NIELSEN

125/ Anders JOHANNESSEN

126/ Anders SKAARSETH

127/ Torstein TRÆEN

128/ Søren WAERENSKJOLD

NSN Cycling Team

131/ Biniam GIRMAY

132/ Lewis ASKEY

133/ George BENNETT

134/ Marco FRIGO

135/ Matis LOUVEL

136/ Krists NEILANDS

137/ Jake STEWART

138/ Tom VAN ASBROECK

Movistar Team

141/ Cian UIJTDEBROEKS

142/ Pablo CASTRILLO

143/ Jefferson CEPEDA

144/ Raul GARCIA

145/ Michel HEßMANN

146/ Nelson OLIVEIRA

147/ Javier ROMO

148/ Einer RUBIO

Lotto Intermarché

151/ Arnaud DE LIE

152/ Huub ARTZ

153/ Jenno BERCKMOES

154/ Lars CRAPS

155/ Liam SLOCK

156/ Lennert VAN EETVELT

157/ Baptiste VEISTROFFER

158/ Georg ZIMMERMANN

Cofidis

161/ Ion IZAGIRRE

162/ Piet ALLEGAERT

163/ Alex ARANBURU

164/ Jenthe BIERMANS

165/ Milan FRETIN

166/ Alex KIRSCH

167/ Hugo PAGE

168/ Benjamin THOMAS

Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team

171/ Tom PIDCOCK

172/ Xabier AZPARREN IRURZUN

173/ Christopher HARPER

174/ Quinten HERMANS

175/ Damien CRAIG HOWSON

176/ Xandro MEURISSE

177/ Brent VAN MOER

178/ Fred WRIGHT

Groupama-FDJ United

181/ Romain GREGOIRE

182/ Clément BERTHET

183/ Clément BRAZ AFONSO

184/ Ewen COSTIOU

185/ Lorenzo GERMANI

186/ Guillaume MARTIN GUYONNET

187/ Quentin PACHER

188/ Clément RUSSO

 

Tudor Pro Cycling Team

191/ Julian ALAPHILIPPE

192/ Arvid DE KLEIJN

193/ Marco HALLER

194/ Marc HIRSCHI

195/ Rick PLUIMERS

196/ Michael STORER

197/ Matteo TRENTIN

198/ Yannis VOISARD

TotalEnergies

201/ Jordan JEGAT

202/ Nicolas BREUILLARD

203/ Joris DELBOVE

204/ Alexandre DELETTRE

205/ Thibault GUERNALEC

206/ Mathis LE BERRE

207/ Anthony TURGIS

208/ Matteo VERCHER

Team Picnic PostNL

211/ Warren BARGUIL

212/ Frits BIESTERBOS

213/ Pavel BITTNER

214/ John DEGENKOLB

215/ Robbe DHONDT

216/ Niklas MÄRKL

217/ Julius VAN DEN BERG

218/ Frank VAN DEN BROEK

Caja Rural-Seguros RGA

221/ Fernando GAVIRIA

222/ Abel BALDERSTONE

223/ Sebastian BERWICK

224/ Alex MOLENAAR

225/ Joël NICOLAU

226/ Stefano OLDANI

227/ Jakub OTRUBA

228/ Jose FELIX PARRA

The starting order and times for the teams in the 2026 Tour de France team time trial in Barcelona

Here is the starting order and times for the first stage of the Tour de France 2026, a team time trial through the streets of Barcelona:

01 - 5:05 p.m. - CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA 

02 - 5:10 p.m. - TEAM PICNIC POSTNL 

03 - 5:15 p.m. - TOTALENERGIES 

04 - 5:20 p.m. - TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM 

05 - 5:25 p.m. - GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED 

06 - 5:30 p.m. - PINARELLO-Q36.5 PRO CYCLING TEAM

07 - 5:35 p.m. - COFIDIS 

08 - 5:40 p.m. - LOTTO INTERMARCHE 

09 - 5:45 p.m. - MOVISTAR TEAM 

10 - 5:50 p.m. - NSN CYCLING TEAM 

11 - 5:55 p.m. - UNO-X MOBILITY 

12 - 6:00 p.m. - TEAM JAYCO ALULA 

13 - 6:05 p.m. - ALPECIN-PREMIER TECH 

14 - 6:10 p.m. - SOUDAL QUICK-STEP 

15 - 6:15 p.m. - NETCOMPANY INEOS CYCLING TEAM 

16 - 6:20 p.m. – BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS 

17 - 6:25 p.m. – XDS ASTANA TEAM 

18 - 6:30 p.m. - DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM 

19 - 6:35 p.m. - EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST 

20 - 6:40 p.m. - LIDL-TREK 

21 - 6:45 p.m. - RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE 

22 - 6:50 p.m. - TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE 

23 - 6:55 p.m. - UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG 

- Tour de France 

POGACAR POWERS TO BIG PYRENEES WIN TO RECLAIM TOUR DE FRANCE YELLOW JERSEY

Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar climbs towards Hautacom to win the twelfth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 180.6 kilometers (112.2 miles) with start in Auch and finish in Hautacam, France, Thursday, July 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

HAUTACAM, France (AP) - Tadej Pogacar powered to an impressive stage win on the first day in the Pyrenees to take back the Tour de France yellow jersey on Thursday.

On a day when many wondered if he would suffer any ill effects from his crash the day before, Pogacar showed none and put himself in prime position for his fourth Tour victory with a break on the stage-ending climb to Hautacam.

He finished more than two minutes ahead of main rival Jonas Vingegaard.

"You don´t know how the body reacts after the crash, but it was not too bad, it was not a bad crash," said Pogacar, the defending champion. "I feel my hip only when I do acrobatics, but here I´m just riding the bike."

Hautacam is the resort overlooking Lourdes and Stage 12 must have felt like a pilgrimage for all the riders. Ben Healy, who wore the yellow jersey for two stages, finished well behind on a brutal day for the Irish rider.

Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar crosses the finish line to win the twelfth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 180.6 kilometers (112.2 miles) with start in Auch and finish in Hautacam, France, Thursday, July 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)

In 2022, Vingegaard dominated Pogacar at Hautacam on his way to his first Tour victory. But the Danish rider is now 3½ minutes behind his main rival in the general classification. Belgian rider Remco Evenepoel is third, 4:45 behind Pogacar.

As if in a rush to face the grueling challenges awaiting in the mountains, the riders sped through the first 50 kilometers in just under an hour with the peloton chasing a large 52-man breakaway group.

But their efforts on the narrow, twisting roads through spectacular landscapes and stone-house villages took their toll as exhausted riders dropped behind, one by one.

Birds of prey circled overhead as the riders suffered below.

Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard crosses the finish line in second position, losing time on his adversary Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar during the twelfth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 180.6 kilometers (112.2 miles) with start in Auch and finish in Hautacam, France, Thursday, July 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)

Pogacar made his move with 11.8 kilometers remaining with help from UAE teammate Jhonatan Narváez, who looked over his shoulder and allowed Pogacar to accelerate past. Vingegaard initially gave chase but couldn't keep up with his rival, who overtook French rider Bruno Armirail for the lead with 11 kilometers to go for his 20th stage victory - third in this race.

"I was just looking forward for today. And then all the people were all the time coming to me and saying, `Oh yeah, this is the revenge time,´ and blah blah blah. And then when we approached the bottom of the climb, it was just a reverse story of a few years ago," said Pogacar, a 26-year-old Slovenian.

Pogacar finished 2:10 ahead of Vingegaard, with German rider Florian Lipowitz 2:23 off the pace in third.

Armirail, who had been leading, followed 10:46 after Pogacar. Healy finished 13:38 off the pace.

Riders took time before the stage in memory of Samuele Privitera, the 19-year-old who died after a crash while racing in Italy the day before.

Privitera crashed in the first stage of the Tour of Valle D´Aosta.

"The risk that we are taking sometimes is too far." Pogacar said before racing.

- ASSOCIATED PRESS

TOUR DE FRANCE: DOES PRIMOZ ROGLIC STILL HAVE WHAT IT TAKES?

Cor Vos

Not only did he lose time on the opening stage, but Primož Roglič has been surprisingly downbeat about his chances of Tour de France success. Is he just realistic or is he about to call time on a glittering career?

One of this year’s second tier of favourites, Primož Roglič has given a series of downbeat interviews suggesting a lack of conviction in his chances at this year’s Tour de France.

The Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe star ranks alongside the likes of Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-step) in a second tier of riders likely to fight for the podium, with nailed on favourites, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) sharing the top steps. Both himself and Evenepoel lost time on stage one, but the Roglič’s attitude has been considerably less bullish than his Belgian counterpart.

Before the Tour, his team was upbeat about the Slovenian’s chances; “When Primož Roglič lines up for a Grand Tour, the podium is always the goal,” said the German squad’s head of sport, Rolf Aldag.

But the rider has seemed surprisingly downbeat. “If I’m honest, I don’t care, you know really,” he told ITV Cycling. “Having 10 Tour de Frances or one or no, with my phase of career you know it will not change it. I won some races, I mean I’m f**king proud, so I try to enjoy it.”

That response drew somewhat of a backlash on Sunday’s TNT Sport coverage and elsewhere, even if he’d said much the same in the pre-race press gatherings before the Grand Depart, telling French sports paper, L’Equipe; “If I win the Tour de France, I won’t have this life anymore. Do I want to change my life? No.

“We all know which races I have won and which races I haven’t won. With the Tour de France, I have a bit of unfinished business but on the other hand winning it or not winning it… I’m 36 years old, so winning it won’t change my life.”

One of the best stage racers of his generation, Roglič could be among those described as the best never to have won the Tour. It’s not for lack of trying though. He can closest in 2020, capitulating on the penultimate stage mountain time trial to La Planche des Belles Filles, losing 1.56 to Pogačar, dropping from the race lead to finish second overall. 

With four GC wins at the Vuelta, one at the Giro and a host of victories at top quality races, his palmarès is the envy of the vast majority of professionals, but the Tour has been somewhat of a nemesis, having failed to finish the last three editions he started.

After the stage one time loss the team seemed relatively unconcerned. “The stage didn’t go perfectly, but Primoz still finished alongside several other GC contenders. We consciously chose not to take risks,” Aldag said. 

Stage two was an improvement, on the feisty, technical finish of stage two in Boulogne he finished safely in the leading group, even if he was close to the back. However, his post race comments were curious, telling the Slovenian media; “I didn’t have the desire to go any faster.”

Roglič is a champion, of that there is no argument. He’s lost time in grand tours before and ground his way back to victory, just look at last year’s Vuelta. But Vignegaard and Pogačar are highly unlikely to allow that at this year’s Tour, and overall victory seems far away.

Maybe Roglič is just being realistic in his dealings with the press, he’s known for that. Perhaps he’s trying to divert attention from himself. His words may also be those of someone who knows time’s up, his contract is up at the end of the year, and perhaps he knows it's his last.

- Owen Rogers

CYCLING STAR TADEJ POGACAR WINS MEN'S ROAD RACE AT WORLDS

Tadej Pogačar continued his dominant 2024 by winning the men's road race at the world championships Sunday. AP Photo/Peter Dejong

ZURICH -- Tadej Pogačar cemented his status as cycling's biggest star with a devastating solo attack to win the men's road race at the world championships Sunday.

The three-time Tour de France champion surged ahead just over 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the end. The 26-year-old Slovenian appeared to be in tears after crossing the line in Zurich, putting his hand on his mouth then covering his face with both hands before pumping his arms in the air.

He crossed the line 34 seconds ahead of Australian Ben O'Connor and 58 clear of defending champion Mathieu van der Poel of the Netherlands, who finished third in a sprint to the line ahead of Latvian Toms Skujins and Belgian contender Remco Evenepoel in fifth place.

"I put a lot of pressure on myself for today. The race unfolded pretty quickly," Pogačar said. "I never gave up. It was an incredible day. I cannot believe what just happened."

Pogačar achieved the rare treble of winning the worlds, the Tour and the Giro d'Italia in the same year. He also won the prestigious Liège-Bastogne-Liège classic and the Strade Bianche, both with similar solo attacks.

"After many years fighting for the Tour de France and other races, I never had the world championship as a clear goal, but this year everything went smoothly," Pogačar said. "After the perfect season, it was a really big goal to win the world championship, and I can't believe it happened."

On Sunday, he had a prestigious teammate on the road: Primož Roglič, the record-equaling four-time Spanish Vuelta champion.

But he didn't need him, and it was Pavel Sivakov of France who joined Pogačar as he made a breakaway 100 kilometers (62 miles) out.

"I don't know what I was thinking," Pogačar said. "But I went with the flow, and luckily I made it."

The peloton, led by a determined Van der Poel, tried to counter them with about 70 kilometers left.

The front two maintained their lead of around 40 seconds, with Van der Poel now joined by Evenepoel, the 2022 world champion and reigning Olympic champion. But Evenepoel, who won last weekend's time trial, had no teammates with him.

After Pogačar dropped Sivakov, he rolled through the countryside leading to Zurich and the title after finishing third last year.

He completed the 274-kilometer (170-mile) route, which started from Winterthur and had elevation gains of 4,470 meters, in 6 hours, 27 minutes, 30 seconds.

Two-time world champion Julian Alaphilippe of France went out of the race early on. The Soudal Quick-Step rider was caught in a crash and hurt his left shoulder.

- Associated Press

TADEJ POGACAR RETAINS YELLOW JERSEY WITH TOUR DE FRANCE STAGE 20 WIN

COL DE LA COUILLOLE, France -- Tadej Pogacar equaled one Tour de France mark Saturday and will likely match another Sunday.

Yellow jersey-holder Pogacar edged defending champion Jonas Vingegaard at the top of Col De La Couillole to win the 20th and penultimate stage and add even more seconds to his considerable lead.

It was a fifth stage victory this month for the two-time champion, who stretched out his arms as he crossed the line before holding up his fingers to signal his number of wins.

The only other man to have won five mountain stages in one Tour was Gino Bartali in 1948.

"If you told me this before the Tour, I would not have believed you," Pogacar said. "It's out of this world actually. I'm so happy.

"[Five stages] is more than enough. One would be enough. Just the yellow jersey would be enough. But it is how it is. You don't brake in cycling."

Pogacar attacked from the leading duo with 150 meters remaining and beat Vingegaard by seven seconds.

It will likely be the same positions on the final podium Sunday after Pogacar extended his lead to 5 minutes, 14 seconds, over two-time defending champ Vingegaard, his closest rival.

Third-place Remco Evenepoel lost even more time. He crossed the line in fourth, behind Richard Carapaz, and lost 53 seconds to Pogacar to fall 8:04 behind the Slovenian star.

The Tour ends Sunday on the French Riviera with a 21-mile time trial from Monaco to Nice, and not in Paris as it usually does because of the Olympic Games.

Barring incident, Pogacar is almost certain to reclaim the Tour crown from Vingegaard and in doing so secure a rare Giro d'Italia and Tour de France double. The last rider to win both in the same year was the late Marco Pantani in 1998.

"I enjoyed [the stage] very much," Pogacar said. "It didn't go as we planned, but I couldn't be happier with that, another stage win. Just one more day ... and tomorrow I think I'm going to enjoy it as well."

After his explosive attack the previous day, Pogacar said he would not try to win Saturday's stage, a short but brutal 83-mile route from Nice that featured three hard Category 1 ascents.

Indeed, the UAE Emirates rider just stayed with the rest of the reduced group of title contenders on the daunting 10-mile ramp up the Col de la Couillole until Vingegaard made his move and Pogacar sat on the Dane's wheel.

They swept up the remnants of the breakaway and caught up to the front two of Carapaz and Enric Mas with about 1.5 miles remaining.

First Mas and then Carapaz were dropped, setting up an intriguing battle in the final kilometer between the two cycling stars, but it was only a matter of time before Pogacar launched his sprint.

Moments after crossing the line, Pogacar pulled up and waited for Vingegaard to embrace him.

Vingegaard was hospitalized for nearly two weeks in April following a high-speed crash in the Tour of the Basque Country. He resumed competitive racing only on this Tour.

"In some kind of way I was hoping he would give it to me," Vingegaard said. "But I knew already that I had been riding so hard, if he would sprint I would have no chance as I was already on my limit.

"But you can always hope. But it's cycling, that's how it is. I don't blame him at all, I would do probably the same. I'm just happy with how I performed today and how I could come back from yesterday."

- Associated Press 

TADEJ POGACAR WINS MOUNTAINOUS 14TH STAGE OF TOUR DE FRANCE

Tadej Pogacar is ahead by nearly two minutes with just over a week to go in the Tour de France. Tim de Waele/Getty Images

Two-time champion Tadej Pogacar surged ahead on the final climb to win the mountainous 14th stage of the Tour de France on Saturday and extend his overall lead to nearly two minutes.

The elite climbers' duel between Pogacar and two-time defending champion Jonas Vingegaard finally came when Pogacar peeled away with about 3 miles left.

"I love racing on instinct," Pogacar said. "Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but I love it that way."

Pogacar caught up with and overtook his UAE Emirates teammate Adam Yates, while Vingegaard was initially dropped but showed good composure to limit the damage.

The Dane crossed the line 39 seconds behind Slovenian Pogacar, who completed the 199-mile trek in just over four hours.

"Let's keep this positive energy so we can win more," Pogacar said. "I was feeling really good today."

Remco Evenepoel of Belgium was third and dropped to third overall behind Vingegaard.

"I stayed with him a little, but he rode faster and faster and I was dropped," Evenepoel said. "The pace was very high."

After about two hours, riders reached the first of the day's two big "hors catégorie" (beyond category) climbs -- a 12-mile grind up the Col du Tourmalet, one of the race's most famed Pyrenean climbs.

The second HC climb to the finish at Saint-Lary-Soulan Pla d'Adet was shorter at 7 miles but had a steeper gradient.

Irishman Ben Healy attacked first but was caught by Yates, who set up Pogacar for the 13th stage win of his Tour career.

"I must say a big thank you to the team today," said Pogacar, who won his second Tour in 2021. "They were amazing, and this victory is for all my teammates."

Time bonuses for the victory added four valuable seconds and extended Pogacar's lead over Vingegaard to 1 minute, 57 seconds.

"It's a good lead, but you never know," Pogacar said. "There is a long way to go."

Evenepoel was 2:22 behind Pogacar heading into another big mountain stage Sunday.

A group of 10 riders formed a breakaway in Saturday's stage, moving four minutes ahead of the yellow jersey group approaching the Tourmalet ascent.

But with Nils Politt riding tempo for Pogacar's team, the breakaway soon shredded to five riders, including Healy.

Approaching the final climb, Healy attacked, and the four others could not follow.

Healy had a chance to win his first Tour stage and a second in major races after a stage win at the Giro d'Italia last year. But those hopes ended when Yates, followed by Pogacar, overtook him.

Their attack seemed to surprise Vingegaard, who beat Pogacar to win Stage 11 on Wednesday, and it looked as if he would lose significantly more time. But a strong response from the Team Jumbo Visma rider helped him stay within one minute of Pogacar.

Eritrean cyclist Biniam Girmay, who has won three stages, retained the best sprinter's green jersey.

Ineos Grenadiers' Tom Pidcock did not line up for the stage after experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, but 2018 winner Geraint Thomas, who also tested positive for the coronavirus, opted to race but was soon dropped by the yellow jersey group.

Sunday's 15th stage -- which falls on Bastille Day, France's national day -- features four big climbs before an even harder grind up to Plateau de Beille.

Monday is the second rest day of the three-week race, which this year finishes in Nice rather than Paris because of the Olympic Games.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

- ESPN News Services 

DEBUTANT EVENEPOEL TO LEAD SOUDAL-QUICK STEP AT TOUR DE FRANCE

Remco Evenepoel finished second at this year's Paris-Nice (Thomas SAMSON

 Former Vuelta a Espana champion Remco Evenepoel will lead Soudal-Quick Step as the Tour de France starting this weekend, the Belgian team announced on Tuesday.

Evenepoel, 24, will be supported by Basque rider Mikel Landa in the mountains of the three-week race which begins on Saturday in Florence as well as Czech veteran Jan Hirt.

The Belgian will make his first appearance on the Tour, having won the 2022 Vuelta and finished 12th in last year's edition of the Spanish race.

"Riding the Tour de France is the dream of every kid who falls in love with cycling," Evenepoel said in a team statement.

"It's something I too have dreamed about since the moment I rode my bike.

"I would like to have a good Tour and get some nice results, but let’s not forget it’s my debut in this hard and beautiful event which is unlike any other, so the plan is to discover the race, take it one day at a time and see where this leads us," the 2022 world road race champion added.

Evenepoel is also joined in the team by compatriots Louis Vervaeke, Yves Lampaert and Ilan Van Wilder as well as Italian Gianni Moscon and Dane Casper Pedersen.

Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe misses out to focus on the Paris Olympics.

French team Arkea-B&B Hotels also announced their team for the Grand Tour with sprinter Arnaud Demare leading their hopes for a stage win on home soil.

Demare's fellow Frenchmen Kevin Vauquelin and Clement Champoussin are also in the team as well as Spaniards Crisitan Rodriguez and Raul Pierna Garcia, Italian Luca Mozzato, Belgian Amaury Capiot and Briton Daniel McLay.

The Tour begins in Florence before ending in Nice on July 21, with Paris, the regular location for the final stage, unavailable due to the Games.

- AFP