A duel between Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar for the stage victory is what everyone had dreamed of beforehand.
But on “Quatorze Juillet” that didn’t happen on the Grand Colombier. For a long time the final climb seemed to give birth to a mouse among the favourites, until Pogacar shook the tree firmly in the final kilometer after good preparatory work by his entire team.
Just like on Cauterets-Cambasque and the Puy de Dôme, Jonas Vingegaard was no match for the explosive Slovenian. It again costs the Dane 8 seconds, but the yellow is still his.
The fact that the two rivals did not fight for the overall victory had everything to do with the very strong Michal Kwiatkowski. In his old age, the ex-world champion had the legs of his life on the Grand Colombier.
The Pole flew from the early breakaway at the beginning of the climb over a group with Maxim Van Gils, who eventually finished second beautifully, and nobody saw him again. Not even Pogacar…
After La Roche-sur-Foron in 2020, there is now Grand Colombier for Michal Kwiatkowski. The 2014 world champion was the strongest from the early break today and thus adds some color to Ineos’ Tour.
“I had 18 friends in the leading group,” Kwiatkowksi opened up in his flash interview. “Then I could start the final climb with a nice bonus. But I never thought I could fight for the win.”
“We wanted to be along if something happened anyway and absolutely didn’t want to chase. Uphill I probably found my best legs ever. I didn’t think it was possible to win, but look: it worked out.”
