Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) was unstoppable again on the Col de la Couillole as he took his fifth stage win of the 2024 Tour de France with a powerful finish. Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) picked off the remainder of a depleted breakaway over the final kilometres, leaving Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) behind them on the way up the Couillole, before the man in the Yellow Jersey accelerated in the final metres to beat his Danish rival to the line by 7”.
Having confirmed his triumph in the Mountain classification Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) finished the stage third at +23” in his polka dot jersey and Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) crossed the line fourth, 53” off the winner Pogacar. Going into Sunday’s final Monaco to Nice time trial stage Pogacar leads by 5’14” overall from Vingegaard, with TT specialist Evenepoel in third, now 8’04” from the leader.
“I did enjoy this day a lot, although it didn’t go according to plan. I’m really happy I got another stage win. Just one more day to go – the ITT. That one, I’m going to enjoy it too. I will just try to come home safely to Nice, as it is a very hard course. I hope I can enjoy the crowds. I was really surprised with how the race exploded at Col de Braus, which is one of my favourite training climbs. Our guys did a super good job so we all got together at the bottom of the next climb. Soler going to the breakaway was fine for us. We wanted to bring as many guys as possible to the final, but Soudal wanted to try and take time on Jonas or go for the stage and that played in my favour. If you had told me this before the Tour de France, I wouldn’t have believed to. I’m lost for words. So happy… I hope I can share this victory with my teammates today, and also tomorrow. Five stage wins are more than enough. One and the yellow jersey would have been enough, really. But you never brake in cycling. Jonas has gone through some tough days, but he showed today that he is not easy to crack and that he is a real fighter. He did a really good ride and was super strong.”
A trio take the lead on the Col de Braus
The peloton gathered in Nice with 141 riders at the start line for the penultimate stage of the 2024 Tour. In the opening kilometres, as is often the case, it was the Uno-X and EF Education Easypost teams who took the initiative. However, a breakaway group which included several members of the GC top 10 formed on the approach to the first climb of the Col de Braus, provoking an immediate reaction from the top three in the general classification. A big Yellow Jersey group therefore counter attacked from the peloton and brought things back together at the front, with the polka dot jersey Richard Carapaz (EF Education Easypost) not wanting to miss out on the party. Then, Bruno Armirail (Decathlon-AG2R) and Wilco Kelderman (Visma-Lease a Bike) escaped from the regrouped collective of leading riders, this time without provoking any reaction. They were quickly joined by Enric Mas (Movistar), with the Maillot Jaune group then following them calmly, soon 55” adrift.
Two counter attacks expand the breakaway
It was Mas who went over the Col de Braus first and on the descent a chasing group of Jan Tratnik (Visma-Lease a Bike), Marc Soler (UAE Emirates), Richard Carapaz (EF Education First), Clement Champoussin (Arkea-B&B) and Romain Bardet (dsm -Firmenich) went after the trio at the front, while spirits relaxed within the group of favorites. The three leading men set off to attack the Col de Turini (Cat. 1, km 59.8) with a 35” lead over their closest pursuers and 2’00” over the peloton which had returned to a more traditional size for the start of a mountain stage. Although Champoussin was left behind, his previous companions from the cashing group caught the three in the lead 9 km from the summit. Subsequently, three more chasers Kevin Geniets (Groupama-FDJ), Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X) and Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek) increased the breakaway to 10 riders in total, 1 km from top of the Col de Turini. In the KOM jersey Carapaz was the first to reach the Turini summit, almost guaranteeing his triumph in that competition.
Intermediate sprint and more climbing
Stuyven was first at the Saint-Martin-Vesubie intermediate sprint (km 87.8), followed by Johannessen, Kelderman and Bardet, with the peloton arriving 3’50” after them, before the riders took on the Col de la Colmiane climb (Cat. 1, km 95.9). 7.5 km of ascending at an average gradient of 7.1% awaited, with Carapaz once again making it to the top first, demonstrating his climbing prowess and virtually sealing his victory in the KOM ranking, provided he simply finishes Sunday’s Stage 21 time trial. The peloton topped the penultimate climb of the stage 2’45” later.
Onto the Col de la Couillole
As the breakaway riders started the final Col de la Couillole climb (Cat. 1, km 132.8) they still had that 2’45” lead, but the group was soon decimated. Mas and Carapaz attacked 11.4 km from the finish and only Bardet was able to follow them briefly, before the two went clear at the front. With just over 5km to go Vingegaard attacked from a depleted GC group and Pogacar responded by sticking tightly to his wheel, whilst Evenepoel dropped behind. Pogacar and Vingegaard caught Carapaz and Mas 2.5 kilometres from the finish line and only Carapaz could follow the GC favourites, with Mas unable to take the pace. In the final kilometre it was only Pogacar and Vingegaard left to fight for the win, with the Slovenian proving strongest once again. – www.letour.fr
