Combloux (France) (EFE) provisional position to the Spanish Carlos Rodríguez.
In the 22.4 kilometers between Passy and Combolux, including a second-class climb with hard ramps above 15% gradient, the defending champion showed enormous strength that places him as the clear favorite to renew his victory.
Vingegaard now has a 1.48-second advantage in the general classification, the biggest lead since the Tour was launched in Bilbao, after in the different mountain stages until now they had barely been able to obtain a few seconds.
The Dane was a spark between the alpine roads and was setting the best times at all intermediate points. He achieved a 16-second lead with Pogacar in the first 7 kilometers, arrived with a 31-kilometre margin at the foot of the Domancy pass and on the climb raised the lead to 1.05 minutes.
Pogacar was dissolving
The Slovenian was fading away, with a broken expression, he saw how his rival was surpassing him even on the climb, when he decided to change his bike, while the Dane did the entire time trial with the one specialized in that test.
The other point of interest was in the fight for third place, which is already relegated to a duel between Yates and Rodríguez.
The Spaniard started with 19 seconds of rent and in the first 7 kilometers he only gave up 1. At the foot of the pass he already presented himself with a disadvantage of 11, which he reduced to 7 on the climb. But Rodríguez collapsed in the final four kilometers, to end up losing 24 seconds at the finish line.
Yates, Pogacar’s teammate, is now third, 8.52 behind Vingegaard, while Rodríguez has to recover 5 seconds to return to the podium.
The peloton will continue this Wednesday in the Alps, with a tough stage that includes the Col de la Loze, the top of the edition and one of the toughest in France.