Cycling

Tour de France: Pogacar again! Vingegaard holds out, Evenepoel collapses

The Slovenian climber also dominates the Peyragudes uphill time trial, a tough 11-kilometre climb with killer 16% peaks

18 July 2025

Il corridore sloveno del team UAE Team Emirate - XRG Tadej Pogacar, che indossa la maglia gialla di leader della classifica generale, reagisce mentre pedala verso il traguardo per vincere la 13ª tappa della 112ª edizione del Tour de France, una cronometro individuale di 10,9 km tra Loudenvielle e Peyragudes, sulle montagne dei Pirenei, nel sud-ovest della Francia. (Photo by Loic VENANCE / AFP)

4' min read

Pogacar, Pogacar, and more Pogacar. At journalism school we would have flunked. Although it is no longer news, we have to repeat a 'non-news': namely, that Tadej Pogacar, the Slovenian catcher who also dominates the Peyragudes time trial, a tough 11-kilometre ascent with deadly 16% peaks, has won again.

Another Tadej show. Another regal catwalk that gives his rivals no chance. His rival, or rather his former rival, Jonas Vingegaard, gets another 36 seconds which, added to the rest, brings the overall gap to the yellow jersey to over 4 minutes.

The good thing is that the Dane made a very good run, reacting to the previous drubbing in Hautacam, and even managed to overtake the Belgian Evenepoel, who was two and a half minutes behind at the end.

What to add? That Pogacar is the Best? That he is the new Mattatore of modern cycling? That even terrible old Eddy Merckx will at this point begin to worry about the end of his long reign? All right, all true. By now Pogacar, on his fourth victory in this Tour, should be racing in a special category: that of the invincibles, the extraterrestrials, the predestined. But this category does not yet exist at the moment.

If we carry on like this, as the Tourmalet mountain stage awaits us this Saturday, 19 July, someone will start to ask the question. And that is to grant those beaten by Pogacar a special prize, an honour for the courage and determination with which they have tried to stand up to this extraordinary predator of cycling and sport in general.

Many tell us to curb our enthusiasm, to remember that the Tour is still long, that there is still more than a week to go before the finish in Paris. Of course, it is usually a good rule: don't say cat if you don't have it in the bag admonished the great Giovanni Trapattoni. But here we cannot see a credible alternative, someone who can stop this train barreling towards its fourth Tour.

Vingegaard himself, truly admirable, put his soul into it. It was clear how much he wanted to react to the overwhelming power of the new Cannibal. He even lapped Evenepoel. However, at the end of the day, the Dane found himself with another 36 seconds on the hump.

That the Slovenian is a war machine is also clear from his post-race statements: "I am as happy as ever. This time I didn't even listen to the radio: I wanted to go flat out and just concentrate on my pedalling. I had prepared myself for a long time for this time trial and I think I did a good job. Greetings and kisses. Here's one thing we can say: he too, Tadej, was sweaty, almost a little tired. With a few hairs out of place. But nothing more, firm and granitic as ever.

What else can one say? That it was very hot (35°)? That the third best time was that of Primoz Roglic, who came in one minute 20 from Pogacar? Yes, Roglic's revival is interesting, but it is a flash in the pan. A good performance by an extraordinary champion now on the road to sunset. If we finally look at the general classification, it really is a Caporetto for everyone. As that barbarian used to say? No mercy to the defeated: that's how it is. The yellow jersey is first with 4 minutes and 7 seconds on Vingegaard. Then, in third, comes poor Evenepoel, the Olympic champion scrambled like an egg, over seven minutes behind Pogacar.

Let's not talk about the others, because it sinks into the abyss. Here we need to find a new adversary to restore suspense to the Tour and to cycling as a whole. We anxiously await him because this sport, when the same man always wins, even if he is an extraordinary champion like King Tadej, has a dangerous downside: it ends up boring.

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Before concluding, a brief reminder of Fabio Casartelli, who died in the Pyrenees thirty years ago, on 18 July 1995, after a fall on the descent from the Col du Portet d'Aspet. The rider from Como, who won the Olympic gold medal at Barcelona '92, hit his head against a kerbstone as he fell to the ground and, despite being quickly transported by helicopter, died at Tarbes hospital without regaining consciousness.

A terrible bereavement that went round the world. The next day, all the riders to remember him rode the 267 kilometres of the 16th stage Tarbes- Pau at a leisurely pace. On 21 July, Lance Armstrong, his captain at Motorola, won the stage pointing to the sky to remember Casartelli.

Thirty years have passed, but despite undeniable progress in rider safety (helmets used to be compulsory, they weren't), accidents still happen, like the one that happened to Samule Preevitera who died from a tragic impact against a gate at the Giro della Valle d'Aosta.

"I thought about Him and how hard and terrible this sport is," said Pogacar, the natural leader of the Tour caravan, without rhetoric. It is true, cycling is a tough and painful sport that sometimes, caught up in the exaggerated competitive spirit, we tend to forget. And so anything that is done to increase safety must be appreciated and welcomed. Even that of those who are not champions but cycle for leisure and work.