By Vincent Daheron
LES ANGLES, France, July 6 (Reuters) – Defending champion Tadej Pogacar’s final attack paid off as the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider won his first stage of this year’s Tour de France on Monday, taking the overall lead from Jonas Vingegaard, who finished second.
Pogacar and Vingegaard are tied at eight hours, 46 minutes and 55 seconds after stage three, but Pogacar’s bonus seconds and countback put him in the lead as the four-time winner continues the hunt for his third straight Tour de France title.
Stage two winner and teammate Isaac del Toro led out Pogacar in the final kilometre and the Slovenian earned his 22nd Tour de France stage win with a lunge for the finish line after a gruelling 195.9-km mountainous ride in stage three.
“It’s because of Isaac today, I got some extra power in the finale,” said the 27-year-old Pogacar, praising his Mexican teammate.
“Actually in the middle of the stage we decided that it’s possible to go for the stage win and I’m really, really happy that we started the tour like this and incredibly finished today.”
Richard Carapaz came in third, while 19-year-old French debutant Paul Seixas claimed fourth place.
GRUELLING MOUNTAIN RIDE
Officials barred the public from the finishing point of the mountain stage due to a forest fire in the region. A scorching sun bore down on the riders as they started the journey from Spain’s Granollers in temperatures of more than 35 degrees Celsius.
Despite the heat, early breakaway attempts pushed the peloton, with Vingegaard covering 43.6km in the first hour.
Bruno Armirail, wearing the number 13 bib upside down to ward off bad luck, was in a crash with a few others at the front of the bunch shortly after the stage started. Frenchman Armirail suffered injuries to his right arm and leg, but everyone quickly got back on their bikes.
Frenchman Alex Baudin (EF Education–EasyPost) led a breakaway group of six ahead of the 9.3-km climb to Col de Toses, and was the first to reach the summit.
As the race entered France, Baudin stayed in the lead to be the first at Col du Calvaire, ensuring he would take the polka-dot jersey from Alex Molenaar.
The peloton caught Baudin in the final 12 kilometres, as UAE Team Emirates-XRG riders set the pace, positioning three riders in front of Del Toro and Pogacar.
In the final kilometre, Sepp Kuss and Del Toro led out teammates Vingegaard and Pogacar. Pogacar pulled ahead of Dane Vingegaard to make a solo finish, eliminating the lead the two-time champion had enjoyed after stage two.
The race will continue on Tuesday with a 181.9-km ride from Carcassonne to Foix, during which temperatures are forecast to reach 41 degrees Celsius amid a heatwave.
(Reporting by Vincent Daheron; Writing by Chiranjit Ojha in Bengaluru; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Clare Fallon)
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