Another day, another stage victory for the Slovenian Wunderkind. One day after securing the yellow jersey with his first stage win at the 2022 Tour de France, Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) held off a final attack from Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) during a summit finish at the punishing La Super Planche des Belles Filles in the Vosges Mountains at Stage 7.
During the first mountain stage in Le Tour, the climbers stepped up in Stage 7 which began in Tomblaine and ended 176.5 km later at La Super Planche des Belles Filles.
The chase pack — led by the GC contenders — caught Germany’s Lennard Kamna (Bora-Hansgrohe) on the final ascent of La Super Planche des Belles Filles when he blew a 35-second lead. Pogacar waited until the final 15 meters to smoke a gassed Vingegaard on the gravel uphill finish with an insane 24% grade on a windy road.
| 2022 TOUR DE FRANCE – STAGE 7 RESULTS |
- Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 03:58:40
- Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma)Â +0:00
- Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) +0:12
Vingegaard finished in second place in Stage 7, and he moved into second place overall in the GC standings. He’s trails Pogacar by 35 seconds. Primoz Roglic took third place in Stage 7, but finished 12 seconds behind Pogacar and Vingegaard.
Stage 7: Tomblaine > La Super Planche des Belles Filles
A breakaway group emerged after the first 50 km that included Dylan Teuns (Bahrain Victorious), who won a stage at La Super Planche des Belles Filles during the 2019 Tour de Franc.
Lennard Kamna (Bora-Handsgrohe) was a part of the group that built up a two-minute gap on the peloton. A chase pack with the major GC contenders formed and pulled by UAE Team Emirates.
The chase pack of about 20 riders trimmed Kamma’s lead to 45 seconds with 2.5 km to go. When the paved road switched to gravel, the dust began to fly everywhere. The chase pack whittled down to a dozen riders and they could not see Kamma ahead of them, and Kamma could not see the pack rearing down on him.
With 200 meters to go, Kamma was chased down by Pogacar, Vingegaard, Roglic, and Geraint Thomas. Vingegaard made his move and attacked. Pogacar followed his wheel and the two passed Kamma on the brutal windy final climb to the finish line. Vingegaard faded in the final ten meters and Pogacar looked back at him while he crossed the finish line for consecutive stage wins.
“It was definitely a brutal finish, but I think I can be happy,” said Vingegaard. “I tried in the end, but he just came with 20m to go, and I didn’t have an answer. Hopefully I’m better on the longer climbs. At least that’s what I hope. The legs felt good so I’m happy.”
Instead of letting Vingegaard win the stage or allow another team to snag the yellow jersey for a couple stages, Pogacar retained the yellow jersey and went for the jugular with the stage victory.
Preview Stage 8: Dole > Lausanne
It’s the first Saturday of racing in the mountains as Le Tour reaches the Alps on Saturday with a 186.3 km route from Dole to Lausanne. There’s two Category 3 climbs and two Category 4 climbs in a mellow mountain stage. The stage ends atop of Cote du Stade Olympique with a 4.9 km ascent at 4.5% grade.
As expected, the climbers will be the favorites here, but will Pogacar take it easy and let a breakaway transpire and allow a French stage hunter snag a victory? Or will he keep up the intense pressure on the GC contenders especially Vingegaard and Thomas? We like Wout van Aert at +350 odds to win this punchy stage on Saturday. Keep an eye on Aussie Michael Matthews (BikeExchange-Jayco) to stage hunt.
| 2022 LE TOUR – OVERALL GC STANDINGS |
- Tadej Pogacar UAE Team Emirates) 24:43:14
- Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) +0:35
- Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) +1:10
- Adam Yates (Ineos Grenadiers) +1:18
- David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) +1:31
2018 champion Geraint Thomas from Ineos finished in fifth place in Stage 7 and moved into third overall and 70 seconds behind Pogacar. His teammate, Adam Yates, sits in fourth place and 78 seconds off the lead. Frenchman David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) took sixth place at Belles Filles, and he moved into fifth place in the GC. Gaudu is now 91 seconds back.
Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) is the highest American in the GC standings, and he’s in eight place but just 97 seconds behind Pogacar.
Despite a gnarly crash on the cobblestones in Stage 5, Roglic finish in third in Stage 7 and he moved into 13th place overall. However, Roglic still trails Pogacar by 2:45.
Pogacar saw his 2022 Tour de France odds move from -400 this morning to -450 after his back-to-back stage victories.
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