“], “filter”: { “nextExceptions”: “img, blockquote, div”, “nextContainsExceptions”: “img, blockquote, a.btn, a.o-button”} }”>
Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members!
>”,”name”:”in-content-cta”,”type”:”link”}}”>Download the app.
Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious) rode away from breakaway rivals Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) and Marc Soler (UAE Emirates) for solo Tour de France victory.
The veteran Dutchman attacked at the base of the two-step climb to the finish of Sunday’s Alpine ride to Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc for the first grand tour win of his long career.
Behind Poels, the battle between the top-3 of Tadej Pogačar (UAE Emirates), Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma), and Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers) only lit up late after a cagey final few kilometers.
Pogačar accelerated twice inside the final 800m but could drop the defending champion, and the two crossed the line together to leave the GC poised at 10 seconds.
Rising star Rodríguez was dropped by the attacks but held on to third overall.
💥 🇸🇮@TamauPogi attacks in the last kilometer
💥 🇸🇮@TamauPogi attaque dans le dernier km#TDF2023 pic.twitter.com/isNZeVJFWI
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 16, 2023
The top end of the classification saw several shakeups in the final climb to the line.
Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) both lost time, while Adam Yates (UAE Emirates), David Gaudu (Groupama FDJ), and Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) all saw gains.
Poels and his team have had an emotional past month after the loss of Gino Mäder in the Tour de Suisse. He referred to that in his post-stage comments.
“I always dreamed to win a stage in the Tour, and especially with what happened in the team in the last three weeks with Gino,” he said. “All the emotions come then. But it is just incredible to win a stage. It was always my dream, I won a monument, I won a stage in the Tour. I am super happy.
“I started to believe only in the last kilometer. I just had to keep fighting. I had to go full gas, it was amazing.”
When it was suggested to him by the TV interviewer that he had help from someone [Mäder], he agreed. “Yes, I think so,” he said, then touched the #RideForGino banner on the right side of his jersey.
Poels had a difficult run-up to the Tour. In addition to the emotional upset of Mäder’s death in a high speed crash at the Tour de Suisse, he said he was sick during altitude training camp and had to skip the Critérium du Dauphiné as a result. He went to the Tour of Slovenia instead and finished in the top ten there. “Luckily there went really well,” he said. “Then the team took me to the Tour, they believed in it. My DS Roman Kreuziger was saying ‘you are going to be there at the end of the second week, in the third week’ and here we are.”
Remarkably, it is the first grand tour stage win, something that is due in part to his previous role as a super helper. “I really enjoyed my period with Sky too. I was four times in the winning team and it was really incredible to do,” he said. “But unfortunately I never could fight for a stage win. Finally that I can do it today is great.”
The start of the stage Sunday was marred by a huge crash.
Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) was at the center of a pileup caused when a rider collided with a spectator’s outstretched arm in the opening 60km of the stage, making it two dramatic mass falls in two days. Kuss wasn’t as badly hurt as his teammate Nathan Van Hooydonck but wasn’t at his usual strength in the mountains.
Pogačar and his UAE Emirates team hoped to capitalize on that by drilling the pace towards the end, but while Adam Yates set a searing pace on the final climb, his captain let him go clear rather than surging himself.
“We tried to make the final climb hard. I felt that Jonas is super good and I knew that I cannot really drop him, the climb was too easy,” he said, sounding a little deflated. “We tried to improvise in the end and Adam took some seconds also. He is coming back into the GC close to podium. So that is also super nice.”
The Tour’s second rest day arrives Monday. The peloton will likely need it after an explosive weekend through the mountains. After that, the riders will face a 22.4km time trial ending with a climb of just over 6km.
“I know the time trial pretty good,” Pogačar said. “I hope it suits me pretty well. It is a nice course, a really good parcours, and I cannot wait to start it.”
How it played out
The 179km from Les Gets Les Portes Du Soleil to Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc was one of the most undulating of this year’s Tour, packing in eight climbs, although not all of them categorized. These included first category summit finish of Mont Blanc, where Thierry Claveyrolat won en route to taking the KOM jersey to Paris in 1990.
The other categorized climbs were the first cat. pairing of Col de la Forclaz de Montmin (km. 82.8), Col de la Croix Fry (km. 124.5), which were followed by the third cat. Col des Aravis (km. 133.3) and the second cat. Côte des Amerands (170.6).
The stage rolled out without Dani Martínez (Ineos Grenadiers), who showed signs of concussion after yesterday’s stage. Attacks enlivened the action from the very start, with Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step), and Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) all prominent, and a large group getting away for some time before being recaptured.
A serious move was sparked off by Nils Politt (Bora-Hansgrohe), who clipped away on the uncategorized Col des Fleuries with approximately 150km remaining.
He was joined by many others including mountains jersey wearer Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost), Van Aert, Alaphilippe, Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Qazaqstan), Mikel Landa (Bahrain-Victorious), Matthias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), stage 13 winner Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers), Puy de Dôme victor Michael Woods (Israel Premier Tech), former world champion Rui Costa (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) and French favorite Thibaut Pinot (Groupama FDJ).
Additional riders there increased the group to 25.
Alaphilippe and Lustenko attacked with approximately 140km to go and got 30 seconds on the group they were with. The peloton was just 10 seconds behind that chase group at that point but the momentum went out of the main bunch when a spectator holding a mobile phone caused a crash of approximately 20 riders.
Jumbo-Visma pair Nathan Van Hooydonck and American climber Sepp Kuss were amongst those going down, as well as 2019 Tour champ Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers). All the fallers were able to get back on their bikes, while Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) had a near miss and clattered off riders to his left and right but stayed upright.
While there were no retirements, the crash did highlight the risks facing riders, as well as the issues with crowds standing too close to the peloton.
Breakaway whittles down
Van Aert, Poels and Soler emerged out of the early break.
The fall saw the two leaders and the chase group pull further clear of the peloton. With 115km remaining Alaphilippe and Lutsenko had 50″ on the chasers and were 4:20 ahead of the bunch. Alaphilippe led over the day’s intermediate sprint at Bluffy, then Lutsenko was first to the top of the day’s first categorized climb.
Behind, Ciccone outsprinted Powless for third at the summit, with fourth place for the American enough to put him above Vingegaard and back in the lead of that competition.
The two leaders were recaptured by the rest of the break at the bottom of the decent. At that point, with 85km remaining, they were eight and a half minutes clear of the peloton.
Marco Haller (Bora-Hansgrohe) jumped away prior to the start of the Col de la Croix Fry but was caught and dropped by Costa on the climb. The Portuguese rider was hauled back by several in the break before the summit, with Ciccone taking maximum points at the top and drawing level with Powless in the KOM contest. The American had been dropped before that and was out of the hunt for the stage.
Soler was next to gap the break, moving away on the third cat Col des Aravis. He went over the summit ten seconds ahead of Van Aert and Krists Neilands (Israel – Premier Tech) and was soon joined by them, as well as by Poels.
Four became three when Neilands crashed on the descent while taking a bottle from a drinks motorcycle. He hit the ground hard but was able to get back on the bike. However his chance in the break was gone.
Poels goes for gold while Pogačar tries for yellow
Another stage, another big battle.
The three leaders were well clear of their former breakaway companions, over a minute ahead with approximately 25km to go. The bunch was over seven minutes back at that point and well out of the picture.
Soler had been distanced on the descent off the Col des Aravis and was trying to rejoin the other two riders when Poels jumped clear on the lower slopes of the Côte des Amerands. The climb was very steep and this helped the lighter rider, who gapped his Jumbo-Visma rival.
He went over the summit 35 seconds clear of Van Aert and Soler, began the short descent before the final climb, then raced onto the Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc. UAE Team Emirates were pushing the pace in the bunch, putting Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) out the back, and setting the scene for a possible surge by Pogačar.
Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Simon Yates (Jayco-AlUla) got into difficult several minutes later and also slipped behind, with the yellow jersey group reducing all the time. Rafal Majka and then Adam Yates pushed the pace for Pogačar, putting Kuss and stage 14 winner Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers) out the back.
That left just Yates, Pogačar, and Vingegaard in the yellow jersey group heading into the final 4km. Yates continued to drive and surprisingly pulled away from the other two inside the final 3km, with Rodríguez then joining and moving to the front. Vingegaard moved on to his wheel and Pogačar lurked in third, creating confusion as to whether he was seeking a tactical advantage or struggling.
Vingegaard looked back repeatedly, trying to work out what was happening. The podium contenders went into the final kilometer where Pogačar launched a big attack. Vingegaard matched him, marked him and while Pogačar tried again closer to the line, the Dane was alongside him as they finished, opportunity lost and the time gap between them the same as before.