Tadej Pogačar missed everyone in the fourth stage of the Tour de France and returns to yellow!

Tadej Pogačar once again showed his strength, his stage win was decided on the dreaded climb to Galibier, where only Jonas Vingegaard was able to hold him off. However, the Slovenian worked up a small gap before the descent and it was on the descent where he was able to extend his lead on his biggest rivals and deservedly take the yellow jersey for the race leader.

Tadej Pogačar took out Jonas Vingegaard on his second attempt

The young Slovenian tried his hand at Vingegaard on the second stage. The defending champion was still able to hold him off. In today’s stage it was already Pogačar’s dominance. It should be noted that he benefited from the advantage of his Emirates stable, having three helpers on hand for the dreaded climb up the Galibier.

On the other hand, the stage didn’t go well at all for the man in yellow , Richard Carapaz, who crashed out and picked up a gap of over 5 minutes, dropping him down to third in the overall standings. On the climb up the Galibier there were otherwise virtually all the favourites waiting for Pogačar to attack as he had tremendous support from his stable.

Pogačar’s dominance on the downhill

TheSlovenian started about a kilometre before the summit and only the Danish winner of the previous two editions, Vingegaard, was able to catch his entrance. However, the Slovenian gained a minimal gap before the long downhill, where he then used this advantage to increase his lead.

Remco Eveneopel, on the other hand, was caught up by the other favourites on the downhill, as he had the respect of recent crashes in these dangerous passages, where cyclists are racing at speeds of up to 100km. However, he was able to pull away before the finish and gained precious bonus seconds over his rivals, which put him in a provisional second position.

How are the favourites for the overall triumph?

In the first really tough test, the Slovenian clearly showed that he is ready to devastate his rivals in the Tour. As if it wasn’t obvious that he’s the only one with his feet in this year’s Giro. The biggest favourites for the overall triumph are still in the top 5, with Pogačar’s superdomestique Juan Ayuso slipping in between them in fourth place.

Furthermore, both Carlos Rodriguez and Mikel Landa have to be reckoned with, who are just over a minute behind the race leader. 2019 Tour winner Egan Bernal rounds out the top 10. But he has a gap of almost three and a half minutes. On the other hand, Giro fatigue is showing on Gerraint Thomas, who is already over seven minutes behind.

Let’s see if his opponents can come up with something against Pogacar. Or will it be just a battle for second place again. It should be noted that all the favourites can ride excellent time trials. So it will probably be decided who will have the most strength in the mountains.

Or? Whether Pogačar will not explode again in the Pyrenees, as he did in the previous two years. The race is still long and Pogačar now has an advantage of 45 seconds, while he doesn’t have to attack his rivals at any cost, unlike the chasing pack.

Tour de France – Stage 4 (Pinerolo – Valoire 138 km)

• 1. Tadej Pogačar (Slovi./UAE Emirates) 3:46:38, 2. Remco Evenepoel (Bel./Quick-Step) , 3. Juan Ayuso (Sp./UAE Emirates), 4. Promoz Roglic (Slovi./Bora) all -35, 5. Jonas Vingegaard (Dan./Visma) -37…….29. Jan Hirt (CZ/Quick- Step) -4:07

• Overall Ranking
• 1. Tadej Pogačar 19:06:38
• 2. Remco Eveneopel -45
• 3. Jonas Vingegaard -50
• 4. Juan Ayuso -1:10
• 5. Primoz Roglic -1:14
• 70. Jan Hirt -56:54

Source: Tour de France, Eurosport