Luz-Ardiden (France): Overall leader Tadej Pogacar again proved his dominance on the Tour de France as he won a second consecutive mountain stage on Thursday and said “it’s a game for me.”
The UAE rider out-ran his two closest rivals, Jonas Vingegaard and Richard Carapaz, just as he did on the previous day’s mountaintop finale.
The 2020 champion continued the most dominant run in recent Tour memory.
The peloton left Pau under a shadow Thursday after a overnight anti-doping raid on the Bahrain-Victorious team at their hotel.
But by the time an Ineos quartet were leading the remnants of the pack up the final climb of this Tour de France, the focus was on the possible challenges to the leader on the road.
With 3km left Pogacar, Vingegaard and Carapaz were again left to cross swords in the battle to the finish. It was quickly settled.
Pogacar raced ahead with ease over the last kilometre and slowed down as he crossed the line for his third stage win on this edition.
“I felt good and I’m really happy with the win. It’s a game for me, I’m enjoying playing it,” said the 22-year-old.
The Slovenian UAE team leader then turned his attention to the time-trial on Saturday.
“You can lose six minutes over 30km like that,” he said.
