Pogacar hits the heights to reclaim yellow jersey
Tadej Pogacar attacked near the top of the first big mountain pass of the Tour de France and extended his lead during the twisty, high-speed descent to take back the yellow jersey.
Two-time defending champion Jonas Vingegaard did his best to limit the damage but finished 37 seconds behind on stage four. The race crossed back into France, finishing at Valloire, after the opening stages in Italy.
The climb to the 2,642 metre Col du Galibier met expectations as the Tour's first decisive point.
"This was more or less the plan and we executed it truly well," Pogacar said after his 12th career stage win at the Tour. "I wanted to hit hard today. I know this stage really well. I've been training here many days. It felt like a home stage.
"I had confidence in the start, I had good legs, and I had to try it. I know the downhill but I was a little bit surprised to see wet road in the first few corners. So it was a little bit scary. But I'm super happy with my shape and with how I feel."
The roads were slick from melting snow banks and previous leader Richard Carapaz was dropped on the Galibier.
Tour rookie Remco Evenepoel, the Spanish Vuelta and world champion in 2022, crossed second in the stage, 35 seconds behind Pogacar. Juan Ayuso, Pogacar's UAE teammate, finished third with the same time.
Primoz Roglic crossed fourth and Vingegaard fifth. Overall, Pogacar led Evenepoel by 45 sec and Vingegaard by 50 sec.
With Pogacar's UAE Team Emirates squad setting a fast pace up the climb, only Vingegaard and a handful of other riders were able to keep up toward the top of the Galibier.
Then Pogacar attacked with 800m to go and created about a 10-sec advantage over Vingegaard at the summit.
On the 20km descent to the finish, Pogacar extended his lead over the more cautious Vingegaard, who suffered a high-speed crash in April and broke his collarbone and ribs and had a collapsed lung. At the finish line, Pogacar had plenty of time to pound his chest and raise his fists in celebration.
Pogacar, who also wore yellow after stage two, is aiming for the rare Giro d'Italia-Tour double after dominating the Italian Grand Tour in May. He is also targeting his third Tour title after wins in 2020 and 2021. He has been runner-up to Vingegaard in both the last two years.
Big climbs like the Galibier usually come later in the race but organisers mixed things up with the start in Italy and the finish slated for Nice so as not to conflict with the Paris Olympics.
Wednesday's fifth stage is a less challenging 177km leg from Saint-Jean-De-Maurienne to Saint-Vulbas, featuring two fourth-category climbs before a flat finish that could end with a sprint.
There is another flat stage on Thursday before the race's first individual time trial on Friday.
