Tadej Pogacar makes waves at Isola 2000: Tour victory is just a step away

Tadej Pogacar now very close to final success

That the Tour de France 2024 had a single master had already been understood from the first stages, but in Friday’s stage, 144 km from Embrun to the ski resort of Isola 2000, the Slovenian wanted to reaffirm his dominance, soloing to his stage victory number four in this edition and adding between himself and his main rivals in the ranking another two minutes or so, in addition to the gap accumulated in the previous stages.

Pogacar's action è was decisive in arriving in the yellow jersey, arms raised, at the finish line, without any of his opponents being able to contain him: behind him on the day’s podium were Matteo Jorgenson, an American from Team Visma-Lease a Bike, with a delay of 21", and Simon Yates, a Briton from Team Jayco AlUla, with a gap of 40".

Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma-Lease a Bike) and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) were only able to limit the damage, both finishing 1'42" behind Pogacar: the captain of UAE Team Emirates, the Tour dominator, now has a 5'03" lead over Vingegaard and 7'01" over Evenepoel.

Chapter Italians: the tricolor è still without Tour victories (the last one remains Vincenzo Nibali’s in Val Thorens in 2019), Lidl-Trek’s Giulio Ciccone è the best both at the stage level, with the final 17th place at 4'45" from Pogacar, and in the overall standings, where è tenth with a gap from the Slovenian of 22'46".