The Mûr-de-Bretagne called for a decisive battle between the biggest names in the general classification – and it delivered After he lost his Yellow Jersey yesterday to Mathieu van der Pol by 1 second, he was looking for revenge: And Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) asserted his dominance, claiming his second victory in this year’s Tour de France.
On a day that also celebrated Bernard Hinault’s legacy, the Slovenian mastered the final climbs to swap his rainbow jersey for the Maillot Jaune and take his 19th stage win in the event.
This was the 42nd time Pogacar would lead in the overall standings. Jonas Vingegaard and Oscar Onley completed the stage top 3 while Mathieu Van der Poel, 22nd on his return to Mûr-de-Bretagne, dropped down to the 5th position overall (+1’29’’).
The peloton was back together in Saint-Malo with 179 riders. With another explosive finale in sight, many were eager to break away, after Ben Healy’s triumph in Vire Normandie on day 6.
Attempts at Breaks
Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) immediately launched an attack with Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla), but the duo only managed to stay in the lead for 20 kilometers.
The tone was set in the peloton, with a blistering pace to prevent the formation of a large group. Numerous riders make repeated attempts to break away, including tireless attackers such as Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) and Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ).
After one hour, the peloton had already covered 53.7 kilometers. And it was only at km 55 that a group broke away with Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost), Geraint Thomas (Ineos-Grenadiers), Marco Haller (Tudor), Ewen Costiou (Arkéa-B&B) and Ivan Garcia Cortina (Movistar).
Costiou enjoys his day in Brittany
More riders wanted to join them at the front but UAE Team Emirates-XRG controlled any further attempt to get away. Nils Politt then collaborated with Silvan Dillier (Alpecin-Deceuninck) to control the attackers. The gap never got higher than 1’40’’, as the race passed through Yffiniac (km 120.5),
Onto the climbs of the day, packed inside the last 20 kilometers, the gap dropped down to 1 minute and Visma-Lease a Bike took control at the front of the peloton.
Costiou – one of the seven Breton riders in the race – dropped his breakaway companions on the first ascent of Mûr-de-Bretagne. On the line, he maintained a gap of 20’’ to the 35-man GC group. But he was eventually caught with 12 kilometers to go.
Almeida goes down, Pogacar takes off
With Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) at the front, the peloton flew towards the second ascent of Mûr-de-Bretagne.
But a nasty crash took down Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious).
Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) led Pogacar at the bottom of the ascent (2km at 6.9% with gradients up to 15%). After a first acceleration from the Slovenian, nine riders faced off in the final sprint–No one could match Pogacar’s pace when he sprinted to the line ahead of Vingegaard and Picnic PostNL’s Oscar Onley (+2’’).
Pogacar regained the Maillot Jaune on the eve of a stage to Laval, where he had claimed the overall lead in the Tour 2021. He is now up to 42 Yellow Jerseys, as many as Jacques Anquetil, in fifth position of the all-time ranking.
