Bike

Tour de France, Arensman wins in the Pyrenean stage. Vingegaard teases but Pogacar leads

19 July 2025

3' min read

Fog and rain at the Tour de France. Low clouds over the Pyrenees enveloped Dutchman Thymen Arensman as he crossed the finish line in Superbagnares (1804 metres).

A fine feat, that of Arensman, 25 years old from Ineos, which began many kilometres earlier on the ramps of the glorious old Tourmalet with a small group of courageous men who then gradually slipped away.

You will rightly ask: but in the eagerly awaited Pyrenean stage, with 5000 metres of altitude difference and historic mountains such as the Tourmalet, Aspin and Peyresourde, what did His Illustrious Majesty Pogacar do?

And what about his eternal rival, that Joanas Vingegaard, almost always forced to play the part of the brave fighter who must, however, yield to the superpowers of the yellow jersey? What have the two protagonists of the Tour come up with this time?

For one day, in the stage that should have been more explosive, they were in a melina leaving, incredibly, space for the others. Only at the end, about 3 kilometres from the finish, when the gradient became more severe, did Vingegaard try a sprint to test the condition of Pogacar, who had been strangely unresponsive up to that point.

But it was just an illusion: because as soon as the Dane hit the gas, the Slovenian cat immediately stuck to his back. As if to say: where are you going man? Today is not a day to cause a ruckus. I've already done it in the past few days: I'd prefer to catch my breath, but if you provoke me, I'll kill you like Alberto Sordi in the unforgettable spaghetti scene in 'An American in Rome'.

And so it went. Pogacar, after a few hundred metres from the finish line, fired up his own personal turbocharger and said goodbye to everyone. In essence, the Slovenian, preceding the Dane by just a few metres, secured another six seconds to invest in his hefty bottom of the general classification.

Classification that sees him at the top with a 4 minute 13" lead over Vingegaard. Third, at almost 8 minutes, is Florian Lipowitz, the rampant German who, taking advantage of Remco Evenepoel's retirement, jumps one position consolidating what is his goal: a place on the podium.

The Red Bull-Bora boy is growing. Behind, at 9 minutes and 18 seconds, the Scotsman Oscar Onley, a 22-year-old with a fearless heart who is not afraid to enter the fray.

A word also for the stainless Primoz Roglic, sixth at over ten minutes. A great cronoman on his waning path, no longer having to measure himself against the two sacred monsters of the Tour, he earns his bread and butter by floating among the best while waiting for his dauphin, Florian Lipowitz in Red Bull, to finally blossom. We shall see, but hats off to Roglic as well.

The one who retired with his tail between his legs is the Belgian Evenepoel, Olympic champion, who is increasingly in an existential and physical crisis. His problem is the mountains, especially in the big tours. Little by little his engine, brilliant in one-day races, loses power and breaks down.

The final straw in the Peyragudes time trial when he was caught and overtaken by Vingegaard. It was a humiliating episode for a champion like Remco, who is always in front when the stopwatch hands are ticking.

Now that the Pyrenees are over (this Sunday's sprinters' finish in Carcassone) a further balance can be drawn. Clearly Pogacar is on another level. He rides in superior mode. Vingegaard, although combative, is not up to his level. One is Gastone, the other is Donald Duck. Especially when the climbs force sudden tears.

But never say never. There are still three significant stages left: the one on Mont Ventoux (Tuesday 22 July) and the two Alpine stages (Thursday 24 and Friday 25 July), which may add a few chapters to the big book, that of this Tour, which, however, already seems to be finished.