Vingegaard extends the lead, Pogacar-beaten Gall wins the stage

Felix Gall wins the seventeenth stage of the Tour de France. The Austrian won solo after 165.7 km at Courchevel Airport. Jonas Vinggaard is benefiting from the slump of Tadezh Pogacar.

In the fight for the overall victory in the 110th Tour de France, the decision may have been taken at the king stage. While leader Jonas Vinggaard remained in command the day after his impressive time trial victory, his great opponent Tadezh Pogacar had a bad day. After falling early in the stage, the Slovenian broke down completely on the final steep climb of the day to the Col de la Loze.

Pogacar lost nearly six minutes to Vingegaard, who finished the brutal stage with an altitude of 5,400 meters and four mountains in fourth of the day. This means last year’s Danish winner leads the overall standings with the mountain stage remaining on Saturday, 7:35 minutes behind Pogacar. Perhaps only a fall or illness could cost Vingegaard his second Tour win.

Jonas Vingaard, followed closely by Adam Yates, consolidates his lead in the overall standings.Photo: www.imago-images.de

Austrian Felix Gall’s victory was celebrated on Wednesday. The 25-year-old from East Tyrol, who had already won a stage in the Tour de Suisse in Leukerbad a month ago, joined a breakaway group of around 30 with Stefan Küng from Thurgau.

Belo Bilbao (seventh), Simon Yates (ninth) and David Gaudeau (ninth), who are just ahead of Gall in the overall standings, were also part of this strong group. This started with the men’s half – Küng, like mountain prize leader Giulio Ciccone, should have been demolished early on the final climb of the day – but with a lead of almost two and a half minutes over the group around Vingegaard and Pogacar in the 28.1km, fearsome climb to the Col de la Luz.

With 13 kilometers to go, Gall launched a decisive attack and reached the finish on his own, 34 seconds ahead of Briton Simon Yates, and ahead of Belo Bilbao by 1:38 minutes. As a result, Gall jumped from tenth to eighth place in the overall standings.

After the hard days in the Alps, professional cyclists can catch their breath before the final mountain stage on Saturday. The next two stages are designed for sprinters or splitters. Stage eighteen starts on Thursday from Moûtiers to Bourg-en-Bresse over a mostly flat 184.9km that gives Belgian sprint king Jasper Philipsen the chance to win on day five of the Tour. (kat/sda)

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