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

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 

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