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Tadej Pogacar conquered the famed hairpins of the Alpe d’Huez in a record time as he won stage 19 of the Tour de France to extend his overall lead. Pogacar was timed at 35 minutes and 27 seconds over the 13.8km climb, smashing the previous record of 36 minutes 55 seconds set by Marco Pantani in 1997.
In the process, Pogacar became only the second man to win in yellow on this mountain following Geraint Thomas in 2018, taking his fifth stage win of this Tour and the 26th of his career.
The Slovenian took flight on the first of the hairpins and reeled in the remnants of a huge breakaway, closing a gap of three and a half minutes to catch final survivors Richard Carapaz and Lenny Martinez with 1.8km to go before dropping them inside the final 1,000 metres.
It saw Pogacar extend his overall lead to seven minutes 11 seconds over Remco Evenepoel, who himself attacked inside the last four kilometres to strengthen his grip on second.
“It’s very cool to win up here,” Pogacar said. “It was a crazy, crazy atmosphere all climb and it was thanks to all the team that I could pull it off. In the end I was riding for the teammates today and I’m super happy to take the win …
“In the first kilometre (of the climb) I knew I had good legs and there’s not many guys left that can follow or try to go with me so I tried, then I committed to the top.”
He hardly needed to add any extra time to his lead to get closer to what would be a record-equalling fifth Tour de France title, but was determined to add his name to the esteemed list of riders who have won on the 32 occasions the Tour has visited this mountain since Fausto Coppi was the first in 1952.
Rival teams began the day wondering if Pogacar might be dealing with a hidden illness, having lost team-mate Brandon McNulty on Thursday while Adam Yates suffered hugely over the past two days.
Another teammate, Tim Wellens, was suffering on Friday but Pogacar never looked troubled and Yates had recovered enough to get in the early break and offer his leader a big turn early on the Alpe.
What had been a break of more than 40 riders began to fracture after Mads Pedersen picked up maximum points at the intermediate sprint late on the 128km stage from Gap, and the break was still 14 strong when they arrived at the foot of the climb.
It was down to three – Carapaz, Martinez and Sepp Kuss – where the crowds parted and barriers began four kilometres from the summit, but Pogacar could see his prey.
As Kuss faded, Pogacar’s first attempt to drop Carapaz and Martinez failed but a second dig did the job as Pogacar won by six seconds from Martinez, who moved up to fifth overall.
Tom Pidcock, stage winner here in 2022, fell back early on the climb but battled to finish 20th on the stage, keeping him ninth overall with one mountain stage – on the other side of the Alpe on Saturday – left before Paris.
