Four days ago Tadej Pogacar looked glued to the road as defending great rival Jonas Vingegaard dropped him in the Pyrenees but it has been a completely different affair since as the Slovenian almost closed the gap with the Tour de France overall leader on Sunday.
The 24-year-old attacked on the steepest part of the 13.3km ascent to the Puy de Dome, a climb that contributed to the Tour's legend, and dropped the Danish rider to narrow Vingegaard's lead to 17 seconds on the eve of the first rest day.
"It's not a victory but a small victory," said Pogacar, who finished eight seconds ahead the Jumbo Visma team leader. Although he has admitted fearing the heat, Pogacar looked almost effortless as temperatures reached 32 degrees Celsius on the slopes of the Puy de Dome. "When I attacked I could see his shadow and could see he was sprinting full gas so I pushed more and more until I dropped him and continued my effort until the finish line," said Pogacar.
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