If Saturday was already a blow, this Sunday’s blow may be even more so in front of the final general. Tadej Pogacar continues to shine in the 2024 Tour de France After his performance on Saturday in Pla d’Adet, the Slovenian added another one this Sunday in the high finish of the Plateau de Beille to improve his situation for the final week of the race. .
Pogacar again won the fifteenth stage of the Tour de France, a second big day in the Pyrenees, with 197.7 kilometers between Loudenvielle and Plateau de Beille. It was on a day where Visma-Lease a Bike set the pace for Vingegaard, but the Dane’s attack on the final climb was very easily answered by a Pogacar who then let the Dane set the pace, with two. So, he made one final push on the day with 5.3 kilometers to go to take another giant step in the quest for the Tour de France.
It was in an attack that Vingegaard could not answer. The Dane surrendered 1:08 with Pogacar at the finish line, in addition to another four seconds due to bonuses. As a result, Tadej’s difference in the overall standings has grown to 3:09 with respect to the Dane, a distance that makes him the favorite for the final victory in the last week of the Tour. Pogacar has already accumulated three stage wins in this edition, two in a row in two days of the Pyrenean. He continues to increase his record at record speed, now with eighty total wins, fourteen of them partial victories in the French round.
The last of them came on a day with Spanish fame. Enric Mas was the star of the day’s breakaway, where he attacked in the final stretch to try to leave in search of a stage victory. The acceleration of the group of favorites hindered that task. In addition, Mikel Landa achieved an excellent fourth position at the finish line, 3:54 behind Pogacar. Carlos Rodríguez was eighth in 5:08.
It was a day marked for a great escape and so it happened. The attacks continued from the start, with timid movements by Oier Lazkano, David Gaudu and Romain Bardet in Peyresourde, which was first at 6.9 kilometers at 7.8%. However, they were unable to disturb the platoon.
He could no longer avoid the great movement of seventeen runners towards Menté, the next giant of the day, another first at 9.3 kilometers at 9.1%. Among them, Movistar Enric Mas, Aramburu and Javier Romo, Simon Yates (Jayco AlUla), Laurent de Plus (Ineos Grenadiers), Jai Hindley (Red Bull Bora-hansgrohe), Ben Healy and Richard Carapaz (Education First), Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) or Louis Maintjes (Intermarché), among others. They combined the escape with the immediate climb after Portet d’Aspet, with 4.3 kilometers at 9.6%.
The peloton from behind controls the steady work from Visma-Lease to Bike, ready to tighten the pace. The leading group had differences of between two and four minutes, but this did not seem to disturb the peloton too much on the way to Agnès, the fourth first of the day, with 10 kilometers at 8.2%. Even more attacks followed each other in the front to try to choose escape. In it, De Plus, Hindley, Carapaz and Mas stayed on the penultimate climb of the day, joined by Johannessen on the descent.
Behind them, the guys from Visma-Lease a Bike continued to set the pace, reducing the group of favorites to just twenty units. Everyone knows that the fight is taking place on the Plateau de Beille. Along with Vingegaard, his teammates Wilco Keldermann and Matteo Jorgenson, who overcame a mechanical problem, remained in the group of favourites; Marc Soler, Adam Yates and Joao Almeida did it with Pogacar.
Visma-Lease works with Bike and Pogacar coup
Although the initiation of the latter port, from 15.8% to 7.9%, was immediately charged to Yates and Almeida. Visma-Lease a Bike set a very hard pace from the start in the group of favourites, which included Pogacar, Vingegaard, Evenepoel, Carlos Rodríguez, Mikel Landa, Adam Yates, Matteo Jorgenson and Santiago Buitrago. The closeness of the group of favorites caused a series of attacks on the front group.
Among them, that of Enric Mas, about eleven and a half kilometers from the finish line. Carapaz and Johannesen got out of their wheel and entered the exchange of accelerations. From the back, Jorgenson sped up the group of favorites and cut Carlos Rodríguez to cut a minute and a half off the escapees at a cruising pace.
This was in the run-up to Jonas Vingegaard’s attack. The Dane jumped 10.5 kilometers from the finish line, but Tadej Pogacar stuck to his wheel so his rival wouldn’t let him go. With Vingegaard keeping a constant pace, without Pogacar taking over, the two main Tour favorites reached the race leader effortlessly, with none of the breakaways able to stay with them. By Evenepoel, who was gradually giving up.
When Vingegaard couldn’t bring Pogacar out, it seemed like an hour before the Slovenian unleashed his attack. In fact, this one came 5.3 kilometers from the end, without the Dane having any option to respond. Pogacar gradually pulled away, with the Dane unable to finish losing seconds. It was finally 1:08, a distance that leaves the Slovenian closer to a third Tour de France before the final week.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Robert Maynard, and I am a passionate journalist with experience in sports writing. For the last few years, I have been writing for Today Times Live. My main focus has been on sports-related stories and features. With my strong background in journalism and extensive knowledge of the industry, I am able to provide readers with well-crafted pieces that are both informative and engaging.
