World champion retakes the Yellow Jersey with a spectacular victory in Mûr-de-Bretagne, as Isaac del Toro makes it three wins from three in Austria for UAE
Friday 11 July, 2025
With a magnificent display in Mûr-de-Bretagne, Tadej Pogačar roared to victory on stage 7 of the Tour de France, claiming his second win of the race and retaking the Yellow Jersey. With his supreme sprint proving too much for the second-placed Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), Pogačar picked up his victory No.60 of the season for UAE Team Emirates-XRG.
Pogačar’s second win of the race was made all the sweeter by the exceptional work of his UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammates, who teed up the finale with a lightning combination of speed, power and determination.
Keeping the day’s five-man breakaway in check, both Nils Politt and Marc Soler commandeered the peloton with an iron fist, before the final ascent of the climb in Mûr-de-Bretagne reared its head. At this point, the polka-dot jersey wearer and Belgian national champion, Tim Wellens, came to the fore.
Lighting up the race with a huge turn of speed, the Belgian shredded the front of the field and ensured that every rider was near his limit as the climb began to bite. Well known for its steep slopes, the ‘wall’, or the Mur de Mûr-de-Bretagne, was the site of Dan Martin’s memorable Tour de France stage victory for UAE Team Emirates in 2018. This time around, the Emirati squad had one last pocket-rocket up its sleeve to deliver Pogačar to victory.
In the last 800m, the Ecuadorian national champion, Jhonatan Narváez, turned himself inside out in a bid to keep the pace high at the front of the race. Under Narváez’s steam, the race was drawn out into one long line as the riders approached the final 300m of the day. It was at this point that Pogačar made his bid for glory and opened up his acceleration.
Despite Vingegaard’s best efforts, Pogačar proved unstoppable before the line, allowing the Slovenian to post up and celebrate his second victory of the Tour. In doing so, the world champion retakes the race lead and now holds a 54-second advantage over the second-placed Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step).
Unfortunately for UAE Team Emirates-XRG, João Almeida hit the deck as part of a large crash inside the final 8km. The Portuguese climber was riding high in the general classification before the stage, but could do nothing to avoid the asphalt. Once he had taken a moment to gather himself, Almeida remounted his bike and rode on to finish stage 7.
Thorough checks and X-rays were carried out by the medical team beyond the finish.
Dr. Adriano Rotunno (Medical Director): “João suffered a heavy fall in the stage finale today.
“Thankfully, there was no serious injury and he was able to finish the stage.
“After clinical examination, we immediately took him for relevant radiological investigations. It’s confirmed he has an uncomplicated left-sided rib fracture, as well as some profound abrasions to his body. Fortunately, no concussion. We will be monitoring him carefully going forward. The next few days will be difficult for him, but at this point, he should be able to start tomorrow’s stage.”
As for Pogačar, the new race leader sent his best wishes to João in his post-race interviews, whilst heaping praise on his teammates for their efforts in the finale on Friday afternoon.
Pogačar: “I am super happy with the win, today. We did an almost perfect day. Unfortunately, João crashed and I hope he is ok. If he is ok, then it is a perfect day. If he is not, then this victory is for him.
“Of course, I think me and Mathieu [van der Poel] both know this finish really well. We both have nice memories from here, and we wanted more or less the same thing: to win on this iconic climb. I think maybe he left too much on the road yesterday so we couldn’t have this rematch, but for me this day went super and how we planned. The win is amazing.
“We did an amazing job today, all the teammates were perfect. It was a hot day, we spent a lot of energy to cool down the bodies and also it was a super fast, hard day. We had a plan and we stuck to it.
“Tim [Wellens] led me out to the bottom of the climb. Normally, João [Almeida] would be there but he crashed, so Jhony [Narváez] came through in the last kilometre and he did a super good job to keep it under control until the last sprint. It was perfect for me.”
Tour de France 2025 stage 7 results:
- Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 4:05:39
- Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) s.t
- Oscar Onley (Team Picnic PostNL) +2″
- Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +7″
Tour de France 2025 general classification after stage 7:
- Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 25:58:04
- Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) +54″
- Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) +1:11″
