BELLEVILLE EN BEAUJOLAIS, France: After a few days with the mere mortals in the peloton, Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar are ready to resume their battle for the Tour de France title as the 13th stage will be decided at the top of the lung-busting ascent to the Col du Grand Colombier on Friday (Jul 14).
The 17.4km climb, at an average gradient of 7.1 per cent, will provide the perfect stage for defending champion Vingegaard and twice winner Pogacar, who have been a cut above the rest of the field, to fight for yellow again in a highly-anticipated duel.
“They’re on another planet,” Frenchman Guillaume Martin, 13th in the general classification and the 2020 Vuelta mountains classification winner, said on Thursday.
“How I see them? In the climbs, from afar,” he joked. “At least there are two of them so you have a proper show, a real duel to watch.”
Pogacar trails overall leader Vingegaard by 17 seconds and who is going to attack first on Friday is anyone’s guess as both riders are keeping their cards close to their chest.
“I think tomorrow will be a very important stage,” the soft-spoken Vingegaard said. “The climb is very hard, I’ve done it once and I think it will be a very decisive day.”
Vingegaard struck first in the mountain stage last week in the Col de Marie Blanque but Pogacar was on the offensive in the following two, partially making up for lost time and taking a fresh momentum into Monday’s rest day.
“It’s hard to know how it’s going to unfold, it depends how your legs are on the day,” the Dane added.
“Tomorrow is also a super long, super hard climb. It’s always hard to say before (how you’re going to ride). If you feel super great then you try to attack, if not, you just wait.
Vingegaard has a slight edge over Pogacar in the overall standings, but both riders are very close ahead of gruelling mountain stages.
“I’m just happy to be where I am at the moment,” said the Dane. “If you had told me I would be in the yellow jersey after the sixth stage, I wouldn’t have believed it. I don’t think about momentum, I just think about myself.”
Slovenian Pogacar, who is expected to be on the attack, added: “I can’t wait to be there.
“Tomorrow is a good climb, if the legs are good, we can attack; if they’re not good maybe just follow until the top. This one will be full gas,” the 24-year-old said.
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