LE LIORAN, France (AP) 鈥� Four-time champion Tadej Poga膷ar dealt his rivals another crushing blow by winning the 10th stage of the Tour de France on Tuesday to extend his already commanding overall lead.
鈥淵ou never know how long it lasts,鈥� said Poga膷ar, who is on course to equal the record for Tour wins. Only Belgian Eddy Merckx, Spaniard Miguel Indurain and Frenchmen Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault have five Tour victories to their names.
鈥淲e just need to be grateful for this moment to be riding in the biggest race of the world,鈥� the 27-year-old Poga膷ar said.
Poga膷ar, who had already sapped his rivals鈥� morale with on Thursday, again stamped his authority with a break just over 900 meters from the summit of the Col de Pertus, the penultimate climb on Tuesday鈥檚 hilly stage.
Poga膷ar鈥檚 main challenger Jonas Vingegaard couldn鈥檛 follow and Poga膷ar quickly made ground on Richard Carapaz before powering past him 200 meters before the summit. The Slovenian rider didn鈥檛 slow down. Poga膷ar was 5 seconds ahead of Carapaz at the summit, and 18 ahead of Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel, Florian Lipowitz, Juan Ayuso and Paul Seixas.
He then increased that lead.
At the finish line, Poga膷ar was 32 seconds ahead of Evenepoel for his 24th stage victory altogether 鈥� his third on Bastille Day, France鈥檚 national holiday 鈥� and the third already at this Tour.
Seixas, French fans鈥� greatest hope, was third, 34 seconds behind.
Vingegaard could only finish 44 seconds behind Poga膷ar, leaving the yellow jersey holder with a lead of 3 minutes, 36 seconds after 10 stages.
Poga膷ar already had the biggest lead he has ever had at this stage of the race.
Teamed to perfection
Poga膷ar’s UAE Emirates-XRG teammates controlled Tuesday’s stage even when Mathieu van der Poel, the , was among a group of 31 riders that pulled away before the first climb of the day on C么te de Pailherols.
Javier Romo emerged to lead alone but he was never allowed to get too far ahead. Carapaz attacked after the Spanish rider was caught by the peloton and he in turn was powerless to prevent Poga膷ar surging past on the Col de Pertus.
鈥淭he team did a super good job. We targeted this stage a long time ago,鈥� said Poga膷ar, who remembered being beaten by Vingegaard 鈥渇air and square鈥� at Le Lioran two years earlier. That was the Dane’s last stage win over his rival.
鈥淭oday I had similar legs in the finish, completely destroyed,鈥� said Poga膷ar, who added he couldn’t hear anything over his radio because of the noise from fans. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know I was going to win until the last kilometer.鈥�
Some fans booed, but Poga膷ar said he didn’t mind.
鈥淭o all the guys that were booing, they give us more power,鈥� he said.
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