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Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) said he knew Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) was bluffing on the Col de Portet during stage 17 of the Tour de France, while the duo were flawless with Jonas Vingegaard ( Jumbo-Visma).
The trio parted ways with the rest of the overall contenders 7.5km from the top of the mammoth final climb of the Pyrenees, and things quickly became tactical.
Vingegaard, aware of the fall of Rigoberto Urán (EF Education-Nippo), second, wanted to step up the pace, just like Pogačar, despite his huge buffer at the top of the general classification.
Carapaz, however, sat at the back of the group with a constant grimace. Suspicion that he was in pain faded whenever he responded to repeated acceleration from others, and disappeared when he launched an attack himself in the last two kilometers.
“The three of us were flawless, but only me and Jonas worked together. I tried a few times to go flawless – more time is better – but they were really good today.” , said Pogačar.
When asked what he said to Vingegaard on the way up, he added: “No secrets, it wasn’t much. He told me he thought Carapaz was bluffing, and I knew that too. It was nothing unusual, it’s the tactics of cycling. Then he tried to attack.
While Pogacar had seemed destabilized by Carapaz’s presence in the sandbags, the Ecuadorian’s tactics, on the contrary, worked in his favor. Vingegaard was dropped when the move was made meaning Pogačar was able to keep up with Carapaz as the Ineos runner focused on time spent in Vingegaard’s white jersey.
In the final meters, as Vingegaard made his way back, Pogacar sprinted to the top on the last steep slopes of the Col de Portet and won convincingly.
“I had to really drive to catch up with him and just to hold the wheel, it was super tough,” Pogacar said of the Carapaz attack.
“In the end, I just sprinted the last 50 meters and that was enough.”
This victory is Pogacar’s second in this Tour de France, after the time trial of stage 5, and his fifth in two Tours after his three stages on his way to the general title last year.
However, it was his first yellow jersey, with all the others coming in the best young rider white.
“It was a fantastic day. Winning in the yellow is something I can’t describe,” he said.
“The team worked really hard every day to defend yellow. Every day was good for the breakaway, so every day there was not much we could do, just defend. Today was a good run for manage the break better and the guys did a fantastic job.
“We were 50-50 – are we going for the stage or are we defending? In the end everyone felt good, and we tried, we got it and I’m super happy.”
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