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2024 Tour de France
29 June–21 July 2024
Tadej Pogacar is on course to win his third
Tour de France title as he holds a lead in excess of three minutes over arch-rival Jonas Vingegaard with six stages remaining.
The Slovenian came into the 111th edition of the famous race looking to reclaim the crown he lost to Vingegaard in 2022 and 2023 after back-to-back wins prior to that.
Pogacar took his first stage win of 2024 on July 2 from Pinerolo (Italy) to Valloire as he finished 35 seconds ahead of Soudal–Quick-Step's Remco Evenepoel.
The 25-year-old also won stages 14 and 15 to lead the Mountains classification on 77 points, 19 ahead of Vingegaard with three mountain stages to go.
Pogacar put on a masterclass at Plateau de Beille on July 14 as he outpaced Vingegaard by 1:08 to record his third stage win, shattering a record held by Marco Pantani since 1998 by a remarkable 3:40.
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The UAE Team Emirates rider stayed on the wheel of Vingegaard when the Dane attacked with 10.5km to go and decided to make a break for the finish line in the final 5.5km.
"He set a super good pace, but when he finally attacked again - the final attack from him, just before my attack - I saw that maybe I could do some difference from him if I tried," Pogacar said.
"It was really hard to break him and to make the bigger gap. I was going all-out to the finish line. I was all the time hearing he was at 35 seconds, 35 seconds.
"I thought he was maybe recovering and coming back, but in the end, I think I cracked him and I'm super happy to have this gap.
"I could not imagine for a better weekend. Today I was counting down the final kilometres, the final minutes because it was so hard. But it was worth it in the end, I was super happy."
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