Author of his first coup de force on this Tour de France 2024, Tadej Pogacar climbed the last 8.5 kilometers of the Col du Galibier in 20’50”. This is 1’33” better than the previous record, set by Nairo Quintana in 2019.
A first hammer blow to knock out this start of the 2024 Tour de France. Winner of the 4th stage this Tuesday between Pinerolo and Valloire, Tadej Pogacar once again seized the yellow jersey, which he had relinquished the day before to Richard Carapaz.
>> Relive the 4th stage of the Tour de France
The Slovenian rider built on his success by placing a decisive attack 800m from the summit of the Galibier pass, located around twenty kilometers from the finish. Behind the double winner of the Grande Boucle (2020, 2021), Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglic, the three other announced favorites, were unable to keep up the pace.
Despite the headwind
It must be said that “Pogi” broke all records on this climb of the Galibier. And this despite the headwind. According to the statistician ammattipyoraily, he completed the last 8.5 kilometers of the Galibier pass in 20’50”. That’s 1’33” better than Nairo Quintana, holder of the previous reference mark (22’23” in 2019). In 2022, during the last passage of the Tour de France by the Galibier, Louis Meintjes climbed it in 23’47” and the peloton in 24’27”.
This Tuesday, seven other riders, including Vingegaard, Evenepoel and Roglic, were also faster than Quintana in 2019. They passed the summit around thirty (around fifteen for the Dane) seconds behind Pogacar.
Overall, the Slovenian now has a 45-second lead over Evenepoel and a 50-second lead over Vingegaard. “We did a great job, we really executed the plan as we wanted,” explained Frenchman Pavel Sivakov, one of Pogacar’s loyal lieutenants at UAE. “We wanted to get the jersey back by setting a big pace in the Galibier and especially gain time on Tadej’s competitors like Vingegaard or Remco. That’s what we did.” And with style.
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