Cycling

Tour de France, on the Pyrenees new hit by Pogacar. "I thought about Samuele Previtera in the last kilometres".

Also in this Tour, the master is Tadej Pogacar, 26, the Martian of modern cycling who is overshadowing even the legendary Eddy Merckx

17 July 2025

Lo sloveno Tadej Pogacar taglia il traguardo vincendo la dodicesima tappa del Tour de France, corsa ciclistica di 180,6 km (112,2 miglia) con partenza da Auch e arrivo a Hautacam. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)

4' min read

Well, if we still had any doubts, we no longer do. In this Tour, too, the master is 26-year-old Tadej Pogacar, the Martian of modern cycling who is overshadowing even the legendary Eddy Merckx.

After this first Pyrenean stage, which ended in Hautacam with yet another triumph for the Slovenian, perhaps the curtain could already be pulled down and the whole caravan sent home a week early. It is true that there is still a time trial to come, another Pyrenean mountain stage, the fearsome Mont Ventoux and two important stages in the Alps, but the gap that has emerged in this first real examination of the forces in the field is too clear, almost a sentence that does not allow appeals either to Vingegaard, now second in the standings at over three and a half minutes, or to Evenepoel, third, 4 minutes and 45 seconds behind.

What to call it? A beating? A drubbing? A feat that takes away any argument and any residual hope from the opponents? Now the latter can certainly begin to reason in terms of second and third place, legitimate calculations that the losers will have to make in order to carve out a place for themselves on the podium. What matters, however, is that after this 12th stage, the games are now over. There will be other chapters to leaf through, true, but the yellow is already unravelled, the end of the Tour is closer.

A little voice suggests caution. It suggests that anything can happen in cycling: a bad day or a trivial accident. It can happen, of course, just as it can happen that it snows in the Alps in July, but if we want to be realistic Tadej Pogacar can already see the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysées, while his rivals, including Vingegaard, are still on the Hautacam climb, the last summit of this stage, where the World Champion, with around 12km to go, took off with a sprint that electrocuted everyone, or at least the few who had managed to keep up with the frenzied pace of Uae Emirates, Tadej's team.

A dirty but invaluable job, which drained the rivals by simmering them in the Pyrenean heat. If we then want to say who was the decisive shoulder, the one that broke the bank before Pogacar's acceleration, we must then recall the splendid action of Jhonatan Narvaez, the Ecuadorian rider who with his whiplash crumbled the remaining energy of the competition.

Vingegaard, aware that he could not catch Tadej, did not even react, preferring to arrive at the finish line in economy mode, accumulating more than two minutes' delay from the new yellow jersey, which was taken over by Irishman Ben Healy, who finished more than 13 minutes behind Pogacar.

If Vingegaard had reacted to Tadej's outburst he might have sunk. So let's say he saved the day. Three minutes and thirty-one seconds is a huge gap, given that there are still nine stages to go before arriving in Paris (Sunday, 27 July).

But what is most striking is the disproportion of the forces in the field. Pogacar, once again yellow jersey and on his third success in this Tour, at the moment has no rival who can challenge him. Vingegaard himself, who had beaten him in Hautacam in 2022, is clearly in trouble. He does not touch the ball, he only plays defensively.

The Dane is in trouble both time trial and especially, as we have seen, uphill. This Friday, 13 July, there is a time trial (10.9 km from Loudienvielle to Peyragudes) that could become a new debacle for the Dane.

Perhaps the Belgian Evenepoel, who did not collapse here in Hautacam, can do better, but we are still at the same point: the strongest is Pogacar. No trick, no deception. And this will almost certainly be the fourth Tour of his career. His signature in the book is not yet there, but the pen is ready, he is the star rider.

"I knew this was a beautiful climb," said Pogacar. "In 2022 it had gone badly for me, Vingegaard won, who was stronger with his team. But then I didn't think about it anymore. I just felt like rewriting that story from three years ago in reverse. I'm really happy, everything went well. I also reacted to the fall on Wednesday. I only felt a slight pain in my hip. The team was terrific, it allowed me to take the lead in the finale.

There is also time for a reflection on Samuele Previtera, the 19-year-old rider who died in a crash at the Giro della Valle D'Aosta. 'In this moment of happiness, however, I want to have a thought for Samuele and his family: I thought about him in the last few kilometres. I thought about him and how hard and terrible this sport is and how much pain it can cause'.

Exciting, non-trivial words that do credit to a champion who knows how to make himself heard even when he gets off his bike.