Tour de France: Pogacar wins stage 17 as Vingegaard holds on and Thomas fades

Geraint Thomas’s hopes of winning this year’s Tour de France evaporated into the thin Pyrenean air as a combination of fatigue and the infernal pace set by rivals Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates) distanced him on the road to Peyragudes.

Ahead of him on the 16% slopes to the high-altitude finish line, the pair duelled for the stage win, with Pogacar out-sprinting the race leader, although without making the significant time gains he needed. Thomas, grinding his way across the finish line two minutes later, finished best of the rest to conserve his third place overall.

Stage 17 result

General classification

Pogacar’s bid to dethrone his Danish rival Vingegaard, began in earnest on the penultimate climb, the Col de Val-Louron Azet, where his American teammate, Brandon McNulty set a record-breaking pace.

On a day that had started with Pogacar losing his fourth and most-experienced teammate, Rafal Majka, through injury, McNulty was worth his weight in gold, if not yellow.

His efforts were enough to crack all their leading rivals, except Vingegaard, who again mastered the defending champion’s attempts to distance him. Behind them, on the approach to the final climb, Thomas joined forces with the resurgent Frenchman Romain Bardet, (Team DSM) although the Welshman, ultimately moved clear on the steep haul to Peyragudes altiport.

Pogacar now has one mountain stage remaining, to the resort at Hautacam on Thursday, to claw more time back on the race leader. If he cannot do so, then everything will rest on Saturday’s final 40km time trial, just as it did in 2020, when he usurped Vingegaard’s teammate, Primoz Roglic, to win his first Tour.