Although Tadej Pogacar won his third stage in this round on Wednesday, he hardly offered any perspective to grab the overall victory. Jonas Weinggaard, who was wearing the yellow jersey, finished second on his bike at Piragodes. “It’s still possible, I’m an optimist. Tomorrow I will try again. That journey is more difficult than this,” said the Slovenian captain of the UAE Emirates team, which has won the Tour de France for the past two years.
Perhaps he was hoping against better judgment. Pogacar withstood one attack on Wednesday, shortly before the summit of the Col de Val Louron-Azet. Vingegaard followed him seemingly effortlessly. The Dane from Jumbo-Visma reached the final climbing point with Pogacar and his American teammate Brandon McNulty and just had to bend to the Slovenian in a short sprint for victory.
said Pogakar, who had only three teammates left this round. Besides McNelty, these are the Dane Mikkel Berg and the Swiss Mark Hershey. “We can’t do more than we did today. Brandon deserves a special mention for what he did today. For now I’m happy to win the stage. I gave it my all.”
