Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) has won his first stage of the 2022 Tour de France and has swapped the white jersey of young rider classification leader for the yellow jersey. The race leader today, Wout van Aert (Jumbo Visma), went on the attack but was caught during the finale and then lost minutes to the reduced peloton.
Pogačar proved strongest in the uphill finish in the sprint from that reduced group; taking what looked like a comfortable win. Michael Matthews (BikeExchange-Jayco) was 2nd with David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) placing 3rd. Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) took 4th; a very good ride in what is his debut Tour.
The 219.9km stage from Binche to Longwy featured a very hilly finale, with a series of small climbs coming one after the other before the uphill finish. While it looked like a transitionary stage on paper, it began with an opening hour of attacking before a quality, if small, breakaway got clear.
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Van Aert was in that move along with Quinn Simmons (Trek Segafredo) and Jakob Fuglsang (Israel Premier Tech). While they got more than four minutes, they were gradually pegged back, with Fuglsang the first to drop back and then Simmons.
Van Aert, the last man standing out front, still had over a minute with about 20km to go. But he too was eventually caught, and quickly went out the back of the group. From that point the terrain and speed, on what was a relentless day of racing, trimmed the bunch right back.
Pogačar got a great lead into the finish by his team mates Brandon McNulty and Rafał Majka. Though Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) kicked first for the line, deep into the final kilometre, his move was covered, though put everyone under pressure.
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Once Pogačar got to within 200 metres of the finish line, though it was all uphill, he kicked; catching some of his rivals for the stage win by surprise. He opened a gap on them and though Matthews made a very good fist of trying to get back on terms, the Tour champion - aiming for his third overall win this year - was far too strong.
In winning the stage, and taking the 10-second time bonus, he denied Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) the yellow jersey; the American looking set to go into yellow after Van Aert was dropped but not getting his day in the sun in the end.
More to come.
