
Tadej Pogacar out to bury the ghosts of his past in final Tour de France week
As the 2025 Tour de France heads into its final and most punishing mountain stages, the defending champion is about to tackle climbs where he cracked or struggled before.
The Mont Ventoux and Col de la Loze await again - but this time, things feel different.
"I'm almost confident to say the route was designed to scare me," Pogacar said with a smile on Monday.
"But I always look at it as a race situation. I actually like all of these climbs."
This year, he has already won at Hautacam, where his Tour hopes vanished in 2022 when he was beaten by chief rival Jonas Vingegaard, who ended up 2:10 behind the Slovenian.
Pogacar is 4:13 ahead of the Dane in the general classification as he marches towards a fourth Tour title.
In his sixth campaign, Pogacar speaks with the assurance of a man determined to make peace with painful memories.
"Col de la Loze, for me, is one of the hardest climbs I've ever done," he conceded. "I'm not looking for revenge. I just want to have better legs than those days in the past."
In 2023, Pogacar experienced what he then called the 'worst day' of his life on a bike when he cracked in the ascent of the Col de la Loze, effectively losing the Tour to Vingegaard.
While the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider appears firmly in control, Pogacar knows better than anyone that one bad day can change everything.
Although Vingegaard has suffered two rare off days, he insists he is not out of contention.
"I do think I can win it. Of course, it looks very hard now, it's a big gap," the Dane said. "But normally my strength is in the third week. We have to attack."
Vingegaard, however, has no illusions about the challenge ahead.
"The biggest difference is my two off days, where I lost most of the time," he said. "But I don't think the gap is as big as it looks. I know that's not my level. I can do a lot better than that.
"I'm also willing to sacrifice second to try to achieve first."
Visma-Lease a Bike's sports director Grischa Niermann underlined the urgency of the mission.
"It's four minutes - you don't make that up with an attack in the last 500 metres," Niermann said. "For that to happen, we need to see a weakness in Tadej. So far, he hasn't shown one. But the Tour is over only when we reach Paris."
Visma-Lease a Bike, however, seem to have lost the collective power that made them a formidable squad in 2022 and 2023, when Vingegaard won his two Tour titles.
"They tend to overtrain their riders and after two or three years, they're completely empty," a senior official in another Tour team told Reuters.
"They have plans, but don't have the capacities to execute them. They should be more humble."
Pogacar is ready for anything that might come at him.
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Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Pogacar crashes into Vingegaard's team car before Tour stage start
COURCHEVEL, France, July 24 (Reuters) - Tour de France overall leader Tadej Pogacar suffered a big scare on Thursday when he bumped into the team car of his chief rival Jonas Vingegaard before the start of the 18th stage, a brutal mountain trek from Vif to the Col de la Loze. "We were going to the start line and the cars were also going... we were cruising behind the (Visma-Lease a Bike) car, maybe a bit too close and he suddenly... maybe I don't know if he wanted to brake check me, to check my brakes," Slovenian Pogacar said with a smile. "I was not ready because I did not see the reason why he had to stop urgently so we crashed into the car, I hit my... but it's okay, I'm okay we're good," he added. It was not clear who Pogacar was with when he hit the Visma-Lease a Bike car. Pogacar leads Dane Vingegaard by 4 minutes 15 seconds going into the 18th stage.


The Guardian
3 hours ago
- The Guardian
Tour de France 2025: stage 18 from Vif to Courchevel Col de la Loze
Update: Date: 2025-07-24T09:30:11.000Z Title: Preamble Content: Today's stage doesn't ask the riders for much, unless you count 5,450m of climbing across three hors catégorie mountains on the 171km route. Perhaps the more significant figure is 14,000: the sum total in metres of vertical ascent in four stages remaining (4,550m tomorrow, 2,990m on Saturday and 1,100m on Sunday, added to 5,450m today). It will be gruelling, brutal, epic, punishing, attritional – take your pick. It might even be dramatic if Jonas Vingegaard and Visma-Lease A Bike can isolate the race leader, Tadej Pogacar, and take a chunk or two out of his commanding 4min 15sec lead in the general classification. The Col du Glandon, Col de la Madeleine and Col de la Loze must all be tackled by the peloton today: the sheer length and difficulty of the stage promises another rich self-contained narrative within the context of one of the toughest Tours in history. No doubt, Vingegaard's team have created a plan for how they might launch attacks on Pogacar and UAE Team Emirates most effectively. A successful Visma counterattack is not beyond the bounds of possibility but given Pogacar's flying form, it feels more likely the reigning champion will roll with the punches, yet again, and take another significant step towards glory in Paris. This being the Tour de France there will be subplots aplenty. The battle to form the breakaway will be fierce, with the 15 teams that remain empty-handed particularly motivated, while the race for the podium and top 10 in GC is very much on. Jonathan Milan of Lidl-Trek, who won yesterday to forge a 72-point lead over Pogacar in the green jersey standings, will merely be aiming to make the time cut, hoping a stage win for the Slovenian doesn't reignite the points classification race. It's going to be emotional. Are you ready? Allez! Stage start: 11.20 UK time / 12.20 local time


The Independent
4 hours ago
- The Independent
Tour de France 2025 live: Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard set for almighty tussle on Alpine queen stage
The battle for the Tour de France crown reignites today on the first of a fiendishly difficult Alpine double-header: the race's 'queen stage' to Courchevel. All of the general classification favourites stayed safe in the melee of stage 17, when Jonathan Milan came out on top in dismally wet conditions at the end of a 160km run from Bollene to Valence. His major sprint rival Tim Merlier was held up in a crash in the final kilometre which brought down several sprinters, including last year's green jersey winner Biniam Girmay, whose torrid Tour continued as he was helped over the line by teammates clutching his collarbone. But today the sprinters will be in survival mode as the yellow jersey favourites battle for supremacy on the toughest stage yet - and Jonas Vingegaard tries to dent Tadej Pogacar 's commanding overall lead. Stage 18 preview The Tour may not be won here - it may have already been won, with Tadej Pogacar leading by more than four minutes - but it can certainly be lost. Today's stage 18 is undoubtedly the 'queen stage' of this year's race: 171.5km from Vif to Courchevel, traversing the high Alps and three hors-categorie climbs, some of the most gruelling in the entire Tour de France repertoire. The riders will also have keep something in the tank for another punishing stage to come on Friday, with nearly as much climbing to crest. It's a classic shark's-tooth profile today, climbing and descending all day with a brief prelude of some gentler uphill to get things underway, and a small valley section before the day's final climb. And it's not just the GC favourites who will be eyeing glory: if Lenny Martinez wants to win the polka-dot jersey over Tadej Pogacar, its current custodian, he'll need to claim serious points on today's stage - meaning we're likely to see fireworks all day, both from the breakaway and the yellow jersey contenders. Flo Clifford24 July 2025 09:40 Stage 18 preview Following one more comparatively relaxed day for the general classification on stage 17's full-throttle, chaotic sprint finish, won by the green jersey of Jonathan Milan, the battle for the overall title reignites today. Milan came out on top in dismally wet conditions at the end of a 160km run from Bollene to Valence, a transitional stage taking the riders out of Provence and towards the traditional battleground of the Alps. His major sprint rival Tim Merlier was held up in a crash in the final kilometre which brought down several sprinters, including last year's green jersey winner Biniam Girmay, whose torrid Tour continued as he was helped over the line by teammates clutching his collarbone. But with the final sprint day before Paris out the way, the Tour de France now reaches its climax on stages 18 and 19: a double-header of hideously difficult Alpine stages back-to-back. Flo Clifford24 July 2025 09:35 Good morning Bonjour et bienvenue to stage 18 of the Tour de France. It's an absolute behemoth and could very well decide the destiny of this year's Tour crown. Allez! Flo Clifford24 July 2025 09:30