Tadej Pogacar won stage 17 of the Tour de France, beating the yellow jersey Jonas Vingegaard in a slow sprint on a 16% gradient. However, the moral slap to the Dane can only partially satisfy the owner of the last two editions of the race, who counted on the four hard climbs of the 130km in the Pyrenees and on the help of his team to recover from the leader much more than the handful of seconds that he finds himself. in his pocket after so much effort, remaining 2’18 ” behind while arriving in Paris there are only four days left. The UAE champion and the tough Danish Jumbo Visma controlled each other for the entire race, making the duel on the final ramp of Peyragudes inevitable, in the penultimate uphill finish of the Grande Boucle.
In the final, the Slovenian found great support in Brandon McNulty, capable of making the pace in front of him for many kilometers and gradually going to retrieve all those who had attempted the adventure. The American gave up on the last tear, where Pogacar was hoping to place the lunge, but Vingegaard, who nevertheless never showed signs of weakness, was able to cope with him with the last strength left, taking home a second place that almost smells like of final victory. Pogacar has everything to reverse the situation and said he is ready to try again tomorrow, in the 18th stage which includes three tough climbs to reach Hautacam: “We can all be proud of what we have done as a team – said the Slovenian -. happy to have won, I gave absolutely everything. I have to thank my teammates and especially Brandon, who did an extraordinary job and deserves a special mention. I remain optimistic to be able to win the Tour. Tomorrow there is an even more difficult stage, then we can try again “. In front of Pogacar, “you have to be constantly on the alert”, acknowledged Vingegaard, who after having managed to keep his opponent in check on the third of the four climbs of the day has always been his shadow. “I fought to the finish. I’m happy with what I did,” added the Dane, as dry in his comments as in his pedaling. Behind them all have abandoned the residual hopes of glory, among them also the British Geraint Thomas, third in the standings but whose gap has risen to almost five minutes.
Source: Ansa
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