Tadej Pogacar overtakes the reigning Tour de France champion at the top of stage 4 of the Col de Galibier on the first mountain stage of the 2024 Tour de France (from Pinerolo to Valois) Jonas Vingegaard, victorious.
The two rivals clashed again, but this time, Emirates Team leader Pogacar had the upper hand, climbing and descending faster than the Dane, opening up a 35-second lead on the high-speed descent toward the finish line. .
With the extra seconds, Pogacar now leads the overall race by 45 seconds over Soudal Quick-Step’s Remco Evenepoel.
Whatever work Wismar Racing’s Vengergaard did on the descents during his forced layoff from mid-April to late June, it wasn’t enough as the Slovenian slalomed around the serpentine bend, Evenepoel took the lead by 35 seconds, with Vingegaard close behind.
For Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz, his first day in the yellow jersey ended with a poor performance in the final kilometers of the Galibier Pass. EF Education Easy Post’s Carapaz was more than five minutes behind Pogacar and his hopes of a podium finish were dashed just 25 kilometers into the race.
When Pogakar’s attack finally came, approaching the top of the final climb, it again elicited a strong reaction from Vengergaard, but this time his acceleration was enough to keep the Dane away from Garga in the final hairpin. Libier Peak.
After that, it was all downhill until the finish line as the Slovenian was on a rampage. Now, an exhausted Vengergaard and his undermotivated team must ensure his Tour campaign doesn’t follow the same trajectory.
Great Britain’s Adam Yates (Team Emirates) and 2018 champion Geraint Thomas (Team Ineos) finished 14th and 15th respectively on the stage, 2 minutes and 42 seconds behind the leader. Yates ranked 13th overall.
