Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) won this Friday the seventh stage of the Tour de France, held between Saint-Malo and Mur-de-Bretagne over 197 kilometers, to regain the yellow jersey and the leadership after dethroning, once again, the exhausted Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), who did not have the strength to defend himself.
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The Slovenian doesn’t seem to have a ceiling and won without, apparently, getting too worked up. It is true that Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) was active and led a good part of the final climb, and that Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) stayed hooked on the Slovenian’s wheel, but “Pogi” also didn’t seem to push himself too hard.
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How was Pogacar’s 101st victory?
The Mur de Bretagne, a short 3rd category climb of 2 kilometers at an average gradient of 7.1%, with long ramps exceeding 10%, was the final stage where Pogacar conquered his second stage win in this Tour, showcasing his strength and that will see him once again exchange the rainbow jersey of world champion for the yellow jersey of the race leader.
In the finish line, Pogacar crossed together with Jonas Vingegaard, who, despite his poor time trial, showed that when the road goes uphill, he can indeed be at a level to challenge the new leader. Two seconds behind came Oscar Onley (Team Picnic PostNL), Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team), Matteo Jorgenson (Visma), Remco Evenepoel, and Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels).
Now, in the provisional general classification, Tadej Pogacar has a 54-second lead over Remco Evenepoel and 1:11 over Kévin Vauquelin, with Jonas Vingegaard in fourth at 1:17 and Mathieu van der Poel now in fifth at 1:29, after not being able to show his strength on a Mur de Bretagne that he conquered in 2021 to wear the yellow jersey.
Slovenian Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) confirmed his disappointing start in this “Grande Boucle” and on the Mur de Bretagne he lost another 21 seconds, now dropping to ninth place, 3:06 behind the leader.
Fall complicates UAE’s Portuguese Almeida
A 6 kilometers from the finish line, a nasty fall occurred that could have changed everything. The Spanish rider Enric Mas (Movistar Team) was involved in it, but he was able to quickly get back up and continue riding, although he arrived at the finish line 51 seconds after Pogacar. It was worse for Pogacar’s teammate, the Portuguese João Almeida, who crossed the finish line more than 10 minutes later and in a lot of pain. Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), the winner of the previous stage, Jack Haig and Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious), and Guillaume Marti (Groupama-FDJ), among others, also fell during the race.
Having overcome this Breton stage, the peloton faces a very different eighth stage this Saturday, between Saint-Méen-le-Grand and Laval (Espace Mayenne) covering a distance of 171.4 kilometers. It is not a very long or hilly stage, with only a small climb towards the end, designed to end in a sprint unless a breakaway prevents it.