Tadej Pogacar decides Tour de France 2024

Jonas Vingegaard tried but not only did he not have the legs to hurt Tadej Pogacar, but he also suffered the Slovenian's counterattack in the second stage of the Pyrenees. The Visma-Lease a Bike cyclist concedes more than a minute, sending him to over 3 minutes in the general classification, making the Tour de France 2024 seem, barring any unforeseen circumstances, completely secured for Pogacar's double.

The second Pyrenean stage of the Tour de France 2024 leaves the race almost decided

If yesterday's stage was already tough, the second chapter of the Tour de France 2024 in the Pyrenees was even tougher, adding to the difficulty of the climbs a route of almost 200 kilometers between the beautiful town of Loundenvielle and its stunning lake in the shadow of Peyresourde and Val Louron, with another of those mythical climbs of the Grande Boucle like Plateau de Beille.

Along the way, the Peyresourde climb, followed by a flat section linking to the Col de Menté, which was immediately followed by the short but tough Portet de Aspet, in a classic Tour de France route linking the Ariège region, where the stage was heading, with the Hautes Pyrénées where yesterday's stage took place. In between both regions, a long linking section that divided the stage into two very defined zones.

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Many attacks on the ramps of Peyresourde but no breakaway was able to establish. Only in the final part, Lazkano and Gaudu managed to get a few seconds ahead but were caught on the descent. After passing through Luchon, the battle continued and a numerous group of 21 cyclists was formed on the flat, including a much criticized Enric Mas for his lackluster Tour de France 2024. With this configuration, the Col de Menté began, where more attacks occurred in the peloton with riders like Ben Healy or Richard Carapaz managing to reach the front.

With the stage becoming calmer, but still raced at a very fast pace, Visma-Lease a Bike needed a more offensive strategy to try to turn the tide of the last few days. The race approached the Ariège region with the Col d'Agnes as the gateway. A very tough climb where the front group split in two and Richard Carapaz had to make a significant effort to bridge the gap from the second group to the front.

Behind them, a greatly reduced peloton, with Visma-Lease a Bike burning their ships at a very fast pace. Jonas Vingegaard was accompanied only by Matteo Jorgenson and Kelderman, but the latter was dropped in the approach to Les Cabannes, a beautiful village where the tough ascent to Plateau de Beille begins.

At the front, a 2 minutes 25 seconds gap for the breakaway made it very unlikely for them to succeed unless there was no battle behind. However, as soon as the climb started, Jorgenson's pace reduced the gap by half a minute in one go. An asphyxiating pace that hinted at an attack from Jonas Vingegaard, which came 10.5 km from the finish, but with little explosiveness, allowing Tadej Pogacar to follow the Danish rider's wheel with minimal effort.

However, Remco Evenepoel was unable to keep up with the duo, and even less so Carlos Rodríguez, who had been dropped half a kilometer earlier in the final push by Jorgenson, from a group where Mikel Landa was holding on, aiming to be the best Spanish rider in the Tour de France 2024.

Jonas Vingegaard limited himself to setting a strong pace in the vain hope of hurting his rival and trying to distance Remco Evenepoel as much as possible. And of course, what usually happens in these cases occurred. The moment Tadej Pogacar saw the Danish rider's pace falter slightly, he didn't hesitate to seize the opportunity to attack, which happened with over 5 kilometers still to go, enough space to create a significant gap.

The seconds kept falling mercilessly, and Tadej Pogacar crossed the finish line victorious in the fifteenth stage of the Tour de France 2024, on the French national holiday, pushing until the very line to scrape every second. The result, 1 minute and 8 seconds more than what he had, plus the 4 seconds of the bonus. A balance that sends Jonas Vingegaard to over 3 minutes behind, so unless there is a monumental crisis for Tadej, a crash, or any other misfortune, the Tour de France 2024 seems perfectly on track for what would be the third victory for the UAE Team Emirates rider in the race, with the added bonus of being the first to achieve the Giro-Tour double since Marco Pantani did it in 1998.

Remco Evenepoel arrived at the finish almost 3 minutes later, and shortly after, his teammate Mikel Landa crossed the line, taking the 5th position in the general classification from Carlos Rodríguez and also closing in on Joao Almeida in the fight to confirm a great race.

Stage 15 Classification

1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 5h13'55''
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +1'08''
3. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) +2'51''
4. Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep) +3'54''
5. Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +4'43''
6. Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) +4'56''
7. Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious) +5'08''
8. Carlos Rodríguez (INEOS Grenadiers) +5'08''
9. Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) +5'41''
10. Felix Gall (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) 5'57''

General Classification

1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) 61h56'24''
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +3'09''
3. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) +5'19''
4. Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +10'54''
5. Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep) +11'21''
6. Carlos Rodríguez (INEOS Grenadiers) +11'27''
7. Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) +13'38''
8. Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) +15'48''
9. Derek Gee (Israel-PremierTech) +16'12''
10. Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious) +16'32''