Thrilling duel and grand gesture: Vingegaard before Tour triumph

When Jonas Vingegaard held his heart and kissed his hand in front of Monsieur Le Président Emmanuel Macron at the Hautacam ski station, a memorable day in the Pyrenees had reached its climax. In a breathtaking duel with his rival Tadej Pogacar in the 1520 meter high ski resort, Vingegaard took the decisive step towards overall victory in the Tour de France with a confident stage win - and at the same time showed himself to be a true champion.

Because the 18th stage on Thursday not only provided the preliminary decision, but above all a great spectacle. Pogacar, who ended up second in the end, constantly attacked the yellow jersey on the penultimate mountain before the big drama ensued on the breakneck descent from the Col de Spandelles. First Vingegaard (25) prevented a fall with a skillful maneuver, then his rival from Slovenia fell in a curve. But Vingegaard showed his true greatness and waited for the 2020 and 2021 Tour champion. Shortly afterwards, Pogacar (23) was back on the back wheel with torn cycling shorts and a scraped leg. Both shook hands. Mountain jersey and overall victory in sight Vingegaard grabbed the mountain jersey in passing during his demonstration of power on the super-difficult 18th stage with an altitude difference of more than 4000 meters. After the Dane had parried all of his rival Pogacar's attacks, he knocked him out with his attack 4,4 kilometers from the finish <a data-caption="Tadej Pogacar konnte lange Zeit mithalten. Am Ende musste der Slowene abreisen lassen und hat kaum noch Chancen auf den Tour-Gesamtsieg. © APA/afp / THOMAS SAMSON" data-fancybox="inline-120467" target="_image" href="https://s3-images.sportnews.bz/_images/scale/1280x1280/img/2022/07/tadej-pogacar-konnte-lange-zeit-mithalten-am-ende-musste-der-slowene-abreisen-lassen-und-hat-kaum-noch-chancen-auf-den-tour-gesamtsieg.jpg"> Tadej Pogacar was able to keep up for a long time. In the end, the Slovenian had to leave and has little chance of winning the overall tour. © APA/afp / THOMAS SAMSON

In the end, Vingegaard was 64 seconds ahead, meaning he is now 3:26 minutes ahead of Pogacar in the overall standings. That should be enough to complete the second Danish tour victory on Sunday in Paris. The all-rounder Pogacar is unlikely to be able to make up for this deficit in the individual time trial on Saturday.

After the three difficult Pyrenees stages, the stars of the industry can take a breather on Friday. The 19th stage, covering 188,3 kilometers from Castelnau-Magnoac to Cahors, runs mostly over flat terrain.

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Thrilling duel and grand gesture: Vingegaard before Tour triumph

Sharp attacks, a spectacular fall from Tadej Pogacar and a grand gesture from triumphant Jonas Vingegaard: On the last stage of the Pyrenees there is a big showdown between the two top stars.

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