Jonas Vingegaard all but wrapped up a repeat Tour de France title after his only close challenger, Tadej Pogacar, was dropped on the last climb of Wednesday’s 17th stage.
Denmark’s Vingegaard gained 5 minutes, 47 seconds on Pogacar, the 2020 and 2021 Tour champ from Slovenia, to up his overall lead to a giant 7:35.
There are four stages left though Sunday’s ceremonial ride in Paris. Only one of those stages is expected to be competitive for the top riders in the overall standings.
“Of course we are super, super happy,” Vingegaard said. “I’m sure Tadej will try something on the last three stages, so, yeah, we just have to still keep fighting. We’re not in Paris yet.”
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Pogacar was dropped from the group of general classification contenders about five miles from the summit of Wednesday’s final climb. He crashed earlier in the stage.
“I’m gone,” Pogacar was heard saying on his team radio. “I’m dead.”
Minutes later, Vingegaard, behind teammate Wilco Kelderman, rode away from what was left of that group with three and a half miles until the summit.
Before reaching the top of the Col de la Loze, they had to stop for a matter of seconds behind a red car in a congested area surrounded by spectators.
Vingegaard could not catch eventual stage winner Felix Gall of Austria or Brit Simon Yates, but his fourth place on the day was more than enough given the gap to Pogacar.
Pogacar said it was “one of my worst days on the bike.”
“I tried to eat as much as possible, but it was like nothing goes in my legs,” he said. “Everything just stays in my stomach. … I was really empty at the bottom of the climb.”
In the last two days, Vingegaard turned one of the closest Tours in history into a nearly done deal.
He led Pogacar by 10 seconds going into this final week of the 21-stage Grand Tour, then distanced Pogacar by 98 seconds in Tuesday’s time trial, the most dominant Tour time trial performance since 1962.
Wednesday was regarded as the Queen Stage of this year’s Tour, the most difficult of the eight mountain stages.
It featured four climbs of category two and higher totaling more than 5,000 meters of elevation gain, capped by the beyond category Col de la Loze just before the descent to the finish.
The Tour continues Thursday with a hilly stage with a pair of mild, fourth-category climbs. It could be the first sprinters’ day since July 12.
Belgian Jasper Philipsen has won four of the five sprint stages so far. The last rider to win five stages in one Tour was German Marcel Kittel in 2017.
Saturday is likely the final competitive stage for places on the overall podium in Paris. That 20th, penultimate stage has six climbs, including two first-category climbs near the end.
IT HAPPENED AGAIN! 😱 #TDF2023
— NBC Sports Cycling (@NBCSCycling) July 19, 2023
Insane scenes as @ChristianVDV gets stuck with Jonas Vingegaard behind a blockade of vehicles struggling to get through the fans on Col de la Loze! pic.twitter.com/wZEoSP0Pil
