Last night, Team Emirates’ own Tadej Pogacar won the 17th stage of the Tour De France after overtaking Richard Caparaz and Jonas Vingegaard in the last 150 metres.
“We were 50-50 do we go for the win stage or just defend? – but in the end we tried and I am super happy,” said the 22-year-old Pogacar.
This is Pogacar’s second win of this year and it was no easy task. Stage 17 took place in the Pyrenees and the final 60km featured three exhausting steep climbs but UAE Team Emirates rose to the occasion and emerged the victor.
Mark Cavendish of Britain managed to hold on to his green jersey earlier in the stage as he only lost to Australia’s Michael Matthews by a single point. After the 113th kilometre, an intermediate sprint saw Cavendish beat Matthews and now is ahead in the point’s category by 36 points. However, he was quickly surpassed by the main peloton once the cyclists had reached the mountain portion but was still able to finish the stage within the time limit.
During the climb up the 2,215m high Col du Portet, UAE Team Emirates cyclists were complete control with Pogacar leading them. Only Vingegaard and Carapaz could keep up with him with the latter appearing puffed out towards the final climb. He surprised everyone with a last burst of energy but it wasn’t enough to get him past Pogacar.
‘Jonas said to me that he thought Carapaz was bluffing and I knew it also. It was nothing unusual – this is the tactic in cycling and he tried to attack. I had the drive to catch him but it was super hard” explains Pogacar.
The Slovenian is now ahead of Vingegaard by five minutes and 39 seconds with Carapaz trailing by a further four seconds. Behind him is Rigoberto Uran who fell from second to fourth place during the final 8km.
Running out of steam that close to the finish line must’ve felt like a real smack in face. Too soon?
Esquire now has a newsletter – sign up to get it sent straight to your inbox.
Want up-to-the-minute entertainment news and features? Just hit 'Like' on our Esquire Facebook page and 'Follow' on our @esquiremiddleeast Instagram and Twitter account.
