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A16 SPORTS
Thursday 20 July 2023
Vingegaard takes huge lead at Tour after dropping Pogacar
COURCHEVEL, France seven minutes is just really
(AP) — After destroying incredible,” Vingegaard
Tadej Pogacar in the race said. “Of course the Tour
against the clock, Jonas de France is not over yet,
Vingegaard dealt him the I’m sure Tadej will try some-
coup de grace in the Tour thing on the last three stag-
de France with an impres- es. We’re not in Paris yet.”
sive display in the moun- Vingegaard finished the
tains on Wednesday. 17th stage in fourth place,
Vingegaard is now well on almost six minutes before
course to bring the yellow an exhausted Pogacar
jersey to Paris for a second crossed the finish line.
straight year after the Dan- The race ends in the French
ish rider took a huge lead capital with a largely cer-
over his main rival. emonial stage on Sunday.
The defending champion There is just one tough
dropped Pogacar in the stage remaining before
last big stage in the Alps then on Saturday in the Al-
to increase his overall lead sace region, with the pelo-
to seven minutes and 35 ton facing a total of 3,600
seconds. Barring any big Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard, wearing the overall leader’s yellow jersey, follows teammate meters of climbing.
crash, he looks set to win Netherlands’ Wilco Kelderman as they climb Col de la Loze pass during the seventeenth stage of But with such a big gap
the Tour de France cycling race over 166 kilometers (103 miles) with start in Saint-Gervais Mont-
his second Tour title. Blanc and finish in Courchevel, France, Wednesday, July 19, 2023. between the Tour’s main
“Now to have more than Associated Press contenders, it’s unlikely to
have an impact in the fight
for the yellow jersey.
“We are in a good spot
now,” Vingegaard said.
Pogacar, a two-time
champion who was de-
throned by Vingegaard
last year, lost contact
about 16 kilometers (10
miles) from the finish at the
ski resort of Courchevel.
The punishing trek had
been dubbed the Queen
Stage of this year’s Tour
because of its daunt-
ing profile. The last of four
climbs was a 28.4-kilome-
ter (17.6-mile) slog up Col
de la Loze, close to the
uphill finish. A day after
Vingegaard destroyed the
field in the race’s time trial,
Pogacar did not find the
strength to attack and got
dropped in the monster
climb. His teammate Marc
Soler stayed with him to
try and pace him back, in
vain. The day had started
on a sour note for Pogacar,
who crashed just a few ki-
lometers into the 166-kilo-
meter (103-mile) ride. The
Slovenian leader of the
UAE Team Emirates fell off
at a moderate speed on
an uphill section near the
foot of the Col des Saisies
after apparently touching
the wheel of a rider. Poga-
car was quickly back on his
bike and continued racing
to rejoin the main con-
tenders before a group of
breakaway riders moved
away from the pack.q
