[ad_1]
In a showdown for the history books, Slovenian Tadej Pogacar stole the Tour de France victory believed to be safe from compatriot Primoz Roglic. Two days before his 22nd birthday, Pogacar took about two minutes from the man in yellow as the winner of the mountain time trial and will likely go down in history on Sunday in Paris as the first Slovenian victor and youngest Tour de France champion in 116 years.
“I can’t believe it. I didn’t notice anything, the fans were so loud,” Pogacar said: “I just really went full throttle from start to finish. My dream was to leave, now I’m here. Incredible. I know. Not when I get it.”
Roglic (30), who started the brutal time trial at the Planche des Belles Filles 57 seconds ahead, was only fifth (+1: 56 minutes) on perhaps the darkest day of his career and reached the goal with difficulty. In the general classification, he is 59 seconds behind the new Tour champion before the end of Sunday, when traditionally the yellow jersey is no longer attacked. Roglic’s Dutch teammate Tom Dumoulin was second of the day.
Roglic was the last off the ramp at 5:14 pm The starting position was very good for the strong time trial with 57 seconds ahead of Pogacar. The man in yellow started on the incredibly selective course – first level, then noticeably uphill and the last six kilometers as a steep ramp – dosed, he was only fifth and 13 seconds behind Pogacar in the first half time.
Until the ascent of the last climb, Roglic lost more seconds at Pogacar. They both changed their bikes at the foot of the ramp and went from time trial to mountain bike. When Roglic reached the four kilometer mark, his lead was gone. The unleashed Pogacar continued to accelerate, Roglic had nothing to add and lost second after second.
Only one was younger to win the Tour
The debutant of the Pogacar Tour will be crowned on the Champs Elysees on Sunday. In the history of the Grande Boucle, the young man had only one winner: in 1904, 19-year-old Henri Cornet triumphed. The time trial on the “beautiful daughter board” didn’t just secure huge gaps at the top. “It is an extremely difficult time trial. The executioner is La Planche de Belle Filles, the climb is extremely difficult, very bumpy,” said Tony Martin.
The four-time world time trial champion had time to watch the course without much effort and was about seven minutes behind. In the end, he watched in awe as his jumbo teammate Roglic gave up the big win. The best German was Max Schachmann in 17th place. “I did not feel so fit in the last days, today I drove according to my feelings, and in the end it was not so bad”, said the professional from Bora: “I was already there it hurt there But the atmosphere was great. “
Roger Kluge started last at 1pm in the general classification and was therefore first. The German veteran of the Lotto Soudal racing team was left with the red lantern and will probably be the first German to keep it in Paris in 1935 after Willy Kutschbach. His gap with the front runner, more than six hours behind Pogacar, is the largest of the worst since 1955.
