Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (right) supported by his UAE Emirates teammate, Spaniard Marc Soler, at the finish of the 17th stage of the Tour de France, in Courchevel (Savoie), July 19, 2023. ANNE -CHRISTINE POUJOULAT / AFP
The night before the 17th race day of the Tour de France, Tadej Pogacar had, by his own admission, slept well. Even if the Slovenian admitted that he had had “full of thoughts in mind” after the total domination of his rival Jonas Vingegaard, Tuesday, during the time trial, which had relegated him to 1 minute 48 seconds in the general classification. But before the start of the queen stage of this 2023 vintage, 165.7 kilometers between Saint-Gervais-les-Bains (Haute-Savoie) and Courchevel (Savoie), the leader of the UAE Emirates formation already had some plans to try to regain time in the yellow jersey.
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The case finally turned into a nightmare. When Felix Gall (AG2R-Citroën) crossed the finish line as the winner at the altiport of the Savoyard resort, Pogacar was over six minutes away. He will finally finish 22nd at 7 min 37 s from the winner of the day; and, above all, 5 min 45 s from the yellow jersey (4th Wednesday, 1 min 52 from the Austrian). As summarized by Grischa Niermann, sporting director of Jumbo-Visma, the Dane’s team: “Jonas won the Tour today, I believe, except for a stroke of luck. » Pogacar is now 7 min 35 s behind Vingegaard in the general standings. A hole. It’s hard to imagine that only ten seconds separated the two rivals just 48 hours ago…
This 17th stage with its dizzying total drop – 5,100 meters – and its last vertiginous ascent, the Col de la Loze, whose percentages approach 24% as you approach the summit, nevertheless offered an ideal theater for the last stand. of the young Slovenian (24 years old). Or, at least, a new showdown between the favorites. But, already the victim of a fall in the first kilometers, Pogacar completely failed 8.5 kilometers from the top of the final climb. Pale face, jersey open, he was even unable to follow his teammate Marc Soler. “I gave up, I died”he breathed.
“It was a bad day”
“I don’t know what happened, I haven’t spoken to Tadej yet. He just told me that he didn’t feel well, from the second climb [le cormet de Roselend]explains Matxin Fernandez, the sports director of the UAE Emirates team. It was a bad day. » The person concerned had no further explanation: “I arrived at the bottom of the last climb completely exhausted. I ate a lot, but it didn’t happen in my legs. » For a time, he even thought he was going to lose his place on the podium. All of his main pursuers (British twin brothers Adam and Simon Yates, Spaniards Carlos Rodriguez and Pello Bilbao) beat him.
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