‘What is he doing?’ – Tadej Pogacar shows ‘devilment’ with last-ditch, surprise Stage 19 attack at Tour de France

ByEurosport

Updated 22/07/2022 at 22:49 GMT

Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) made a last-ditch, surprise attack in an attempt to unsettle Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) on Stage 19 of the Tour de France. It proved futile as Vingegaard’s team-mate Wout van Aert closed it down. The stage would be won by Jumbo-Visma's Christophe Laporte and Vingegaard finished safely in the bunch, meaning he holds a 3'26" lead over Pogacar in the GC.

‘What is he doing?’ – Pogacar shows ‘devilment’ with surprise Stage 19 attack

Tadej Pogacar showed what Carlton Kirby called “devilment” as the UAE Team Emirates rider made a surprise, last-ditch attack on Stage 19 of the Tour de France.

After Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) claimed a remarkable solo victory in Stage 18 in the Pyrenees to strengthen his vice-like grip on the yellow jersey, the consensus – ahead of Stage 19 – was that Vingegaard, bar incident or accident, had all but won a maiden Tour de France with the sprinters’ stage on Friday and a time trial on Saturday ahead of Sunday's procession culminating on the Champs-Elysees.

However, Pogacar had other ideas. The two-time defending champion launched a shock attack with 34km remaining.

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“Oh my gosh,” exclaimed the usually unflappable Sean Kelly.

“What is he doing?” added a perplexed Robbie McEwen.

“He is having some fun, Robbie,” responded Carlton Kirby. “And he is going to make sure you are still thinking of him and what might have been!

“He has rolled off the front. It is a statement,” finished Kirby.

The attack – a surprise, last attempt to apply pressure to Vingegaard – was quickly closed down by Wout van Aert. And Kelly would try to rationalise the move by Pogacar.

“We have seen from the moment he lost the jersey, every moment he has been prepared to and tried to put Vingegaard in difficulty,” said Kelly.

“To have that level of devilment within you is wonderful,” interjected Kirby.

“It is nice to see,” Kelly picking it up again said, “it is something you would not expect on a stage like today.”

The stage would be won by Frenchman Christophe Laporte and Vingegaard finished safely in the bunch, meaning he holds a 3'26" lead over Pogacar in the general classification.

Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious), Jasper Stuyven (Trek–Segafredo) and Alexis Gougeard (B&B Hotels - KTM) had a gap of just 10 seconds with 5km left of the 188.3km stage as Ineos and BikeExchange–Jayco set the pace at the head of the peloton as they looked to reel in the escapees.

But it was Christophe Laporte (Jumbo–Visma) who managed to bridge over to the leading trio before kicking for the line to end the French drought at the Tour.

It was France’s first Tour de France stage win for 38 stages and continued Jumbo–Visma's extraordinary 2022 Tour.

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