July 15th 2021
Tadej Pogacar took his third stage victory at Luz Ardiden the day after he won at Col du Portet, giving one more evidence that he’s by far the strongest GC contender of the 108th Tour de France.
Jonas Vingegaard and Richard Carapaz rounded out the podium at the top of the last uphill finish. Pogacar added to the yellow and the white jerseys the polka dot jersey he already won last year as well.
5 riders in the lead
144 riders took the start of stage 18 in Pau at 13.48. Chris Juul-Jensen (BikeExchange), Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious) and Sean Bennett (Qhubeka-NextHash) rode away from km 1. Many counter-attacks took place. Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick Step) and Pierre-Luc Périchon (Cofidis) caught up with them at km 32. At km 55, Juul Jensen waited for the peloton to help his team-mates who were trying to split the peloton ahead of the intermediate sprint. The advantage of the four remaining leaders reached 1’20’’ on the line in Pouzac where Alaphilippe passed in first position and Mark Cavendish won the bunch sprint ahead of Michael Matthews.
Stage
1 Tadej POGAČAR TADEJ POGACAR 1 UAE TEAM EMIRATES 03h 33′ 45” – B : 10” –
2 Jonas VINGEGAARD JONAS VINGEGAARD 18 JUMBO – VISMA 03h 33′ 47” + 00h 00′ 02” B : 6” –
3 Richard CARAPAZ RICHARD CARAPAZ 22 INEOS GRENADIERS 03h 33′ 47” + 00h 00′ 02” B : 4” –
4 ENRIC MAS 65 MOVISTAR TEAM 03h 33′ 58” + 00h 00′ 13” – –
5 DANIEL MARTIN 36 ISRAEL START-UP NATION 03h 34′ 09” + 00h 00′ 24”
GC
1 Tadej POGAČAR TADEJ POGACAR 1 UAE TEAM EMIRATES 75h 00′ 02” – B : 36”
2 Jonas VINGEGAARD JONAS VINGEGAARD 18 JUMBO – VISMA 75h 05′ 47” + 00h 05′ 45
3 Richard CARAPAZ RICHARD CARAPAZ 22 INEOS GRENADIERS 75h 05′ 53” + 00h 05′ 51” B : 8”
4 BEN O’CONNOR 124 AG2R CITROEN TEAM 75h 08′ 20” + 00h 08′ 18” B : 10”
5 WILCO KELDERMAN 73 BORA – HANSGROHE 75h 08′ 52” + 00h 08′ 50” – –
6 ENRIC MAS 65 MOVISTAR TEAM 75h 10′ 13” + 00h 10′ 11” – –
7 ALEXEY LUTSENKO 188 ASTANA – PREMIER TECH 75h 11′ 24” + 00h 11′ 22” – –
8 GUILLAUME MARTIN 91 COFIDIS 75h 12′ 48” + 00h 12′ 46” – –
9 PEIO BILBAO 162 BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS 75h 13′ 50” + 00h 13′ 48” – –
10 RIGOBERTO URAN 111 EF EDUCATION – NIPPO 75h 16′ 27” + 00h 16′ 25” – –
