Tour de France: Pogacar takes stage, but Vingegaard won’t let him go
Between Vingegaard and Pogacar there is now 2’18”
The seventeenth stage of the Tour de France 2022 ended with a duel between the big protagonists of this edition: Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard. The former won the Pyrenean stage, but the latter came in right behind him remaining at the head of the general classification.
The 129-kilometer stage from Saint-Gaudens to Peyragudes with an uphill finish thus saw the sprint success of the Slovenian of UAE Team Emirates, winner of the last two Tours, just ahead of the Dane of Jumbo-Visma, who lost only four seconds in the bonus. Third was an excellent Brandon McNulty, who worked for captain Pogacar, at 32″. All the other big guys lost: Geraint Thomas (Ineos-Grenadiers) came in at 2’07”, Romain Bardet at 2’38”, David Gaudu at 3’27”, Nairo Quintana 3’32”.
In the general classification, the challenge for victory thus narrows to just the top two with Vingegaard still in the yellow jersey at 2’18” ahead of Pogacar. Third Thomas now at 4’56”, even further back Quintana at 7’53” and Gaudu at 7’57”. Tomorrow’s eighteenth stage of 143 km, the last Pyrenean stage, from Lourdes to Hutacam with three big climbs.
