Tadej Pogačar took a huge step towards retaining his Tour de France crown on Thursday, winning stage 12 to Hautacam and putting 2:10 into his closest rival Jonas Vingegaard, who he now leads by 3:31 overall.

It was an utterly authoritative performance by Pogačar on one of the Tour’s toughest climbs — one where Vingegaard had put more than a minute into him on his way to overall victory in 2022.

The first half of the stage was a steady run to the mountains and saw a bumper break of 52 riders go up the road, something which briefly looked like it could be a problem for the race favorites, but which was eventually held at around two minutes by the peloton.

As the race reached the Col du Soulor, Visma-Lease A Bike continued their recent policy of aggression and began pacing at a speed that almost immediately saw Remco Evenepoel despatched, followed a few kilometers later by the yellow jersey, Ben Healy, who was clearly struggling in temperatures of up to 95F (35C). Evenepoel did superbly, though, to manage his losses and slowly claw his way back to the general classification group, finally regaining contact with 27km remaining. The Belgian would eventually cross the line in seventh place, defending his third place on GC.

With the Hautacam looming, there was just a single member of the initial breakaway left ahead of the GC group. Pyreneean local Bruno Armirail was enjoying a splendid afternoon, and reached the foot of the final climb with an advantage of 1:47. But it was never going to be enough to hold off the best climbers in the sport, especially when Pogačar attacks at the foot of a 13.5km mountain.


Pogačar showed signs of his crash yesterday, but no signs of weakness on the bike. (Loic Venance / AFP via Getty Images)

Vingegaard, as expected, was the rider most capable of responding to the world champion, and although he initially held Pogačar at around 10 seconds for several hundred meters, it was a losing battle, and he ended up losing more than two minutes to his great rival on what must have seemed an endless ascent of the Hautacam.

So, 24 hours after Pogačar ended Wednesday’s stage sprawling on the ground in Toulouse, he is back on top of the cycling world.

Jacob Whitehead and Tim Spiers analyse a seismic stage.

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Peerless Pogacar gets his revenge

The acceleration, when it came, was sudden and without warning, a lurch forward with the violence of a collapsing cliff. Pogačar’s move came on the Hautacam’s lower slopes — with 12km still left to climb.

Led out by Jhonatan Narváez, the seated acceleration was as startling as ever. If there were any questions over Pogačar’s fitness following Wednesday’s late-stage crash, this move appeared designed to answer them like a punch in the mouth.

There had been verbal sparring between Visma and UAE Team Emirates but no actual sparring, a phoney war before the mountains. Pogačar’s team may have been weaker after the withdrawal of Joao Almeida, but the Slovenian’s solution? Take Vingegaard away from his support, make it man on man — or, as it emerged, man then another man.

Vingegaard is an expert at pacing his efforts, and though Pogačar immediately built up a 10-second gap, the Dane may have retained hope of reeling him in by riding at tempo, as even Pogačar needs time to recover.

But with 8km left, the gap was 40 seconds. At 4km remaining, it was 80 seconds. Vingegaard’s mouth contorted with effort, sucking in the ever-thinning air. At the summit, Pogačar’s lead was 2:10. The one thing he did not do was beat Bjarne Riis’ record ascent of Hautacam in 1996, an achievement that remains very much of its time, and about 30 seconds faster than what Pogačar produced today.

Pogačar’s GC lead over Vingegaard is now more than three minutes and though Friday’s mountain-time trial might have appeared to suit the latter, both have now shown their true level. Pogačar’s ridgeline sits well above his rival’s.

The 2025 Tour may have to confront its new reality — a battle for the ages rendered into swift and brutal denouncement.

“In the end, we were super-strong,” Pogačar said after the stage. “We had this stage in mind for a long time and we did it. I think this stage today can go for Samuele (Privitera, a rider who has died following a crash in an Italian race yesterday), to all his family, because it was really sad. It was the first thing I read in the morning and I was thinking in the last kilometer about him and how tough this sport can be.”

Jacob Whitehead


Pogačar ascended the Hautacam in 35 minutes and eight seconds. (Loic Venance / AFP via Getty Images)

Assessing the GC winners and losers

While Pogačar struck a potentially decisive blow against a haunted Vingegaard, elsewhere there were other big winners who jumped up the GC standings — and some for whom stage 12 saw them slide the other way.

Young German Florian Lipowitz enjoyed a fabulous day, confirming what many already suspected, that he is Red Bull–BORA–Hansgrohe’s best bet to challenge for a podium place, rather than teammate Primož Roglič, who struggled at key moments and lost one minute 39 seconds to Lipowitz. Serves him right for wearing ankle socks, frankly.


Primož Roglič, left, follows UAE riders during stage 12. (Marco Bertorello / AFP via Getty Images)

Lipowitz finished third and very nearly caught a flagging Vingegaard on the line, clawing back some 30 seconds on him towards the top of the climb to move up to fourth overall and within striking distance of Evenepoel and the podium.

Stage 12 was also where we found out if Scotland’s Oscar Onley is a genuine top 10 contender or if the mountains would prove too much for him. Onley admitted himself beforehand he had no idea which way it would go, but the aggressive 22-year-old confirmed his credentials with an excellent fifth place on the stage, just behind Tobias Halland Johannessen, who thankfully didn’t take out any other riders during the stage — unlike yesterday.


Oscar Onley continues to perform well above expectation at this year’s Tour. (Marco Betorello / AFP)

Elsewhere, INEOS’ team leader Carlos Rodriguez finished 22nd, 12 minutes and 31 seconds behind Pogačar — much further than the Spaniard would have hoped for when he jumped into the early breakaway.

Visma’s Matteo Jorgenson was surprisingly dropped well before the final climb and fell to 10th overall, more than seven minutes off a podium place. “Matteo was not on a good day,” Visma sports director Grischa Niermann told Escape Collective after the stage. “We had a plan and then, all of a sudden, Matteo is dropped, so that was, of course, not what we wanted.”

Perhaps the most dispiriting day, though, belonged to yellow jersey-wearer Healy, who finished some 13 minutes and 38 seconds after Pogačar.

It was always a matter of when and not if Healy ceded yellow to the Slovenian, but to be riding through treacle some 50km from the line will have been tough to take for the English-born Irishman, who was continuously doused with water by loyal teammate Harry Sweeny as he struggled in the brutal heat.

Tim Spiers

Fragile Evenepoel can still target a podium finish

Evenepoel shaved his head before stage 11. Passing through the holy city of Lourdes, it felt quasi-spiritual, a mark of devotion to one’s reason for being. The mountains were here, and so was Evenepoel.

And well, the Belgian has big dreams and is not afraid to talk about them too. “I think everybody knows my dream is to win all three Grand Tours,” the double Olympic champion announced before the start. But after stage 11, those hopes, for this year at least, have disappeared in rivers of sweat.

Evenepoel made it just four kilometers into the Col du Soulor, the first serious climb of this year’s Tour, before he was distanced by Visma Lease-a-Bike’s acceleration.


An exhausted Evenepoel crosses the line at the end of stage 12. (Tim de Waele / Getty Images)

Previous race leader Healy, who is not a specialist climber, stayed with the peloton for longer than the Olympic champion — though he would ultimately lose 13:38 on the stage, dropping to 11th on GC.

One minute behind the GC favourites at the summit of the Col du Soulor, to Evenepoel’s credit, he managed to rejoin the leading group on the descent. But by the time he climbed the Hautacam over an hour later, he had been dropped decisively yet again — losing 3:35 minutes to new race leader Pogačar.

Evenepoel was always a third-favourite, but his podium hopes are now more fragile too — surprisingly losing time to Lipowitz, Vauquelin and Onley, but if this stage showed one thing, it’s that the Belgian is an indefatigable fighter, even in the toughest of circumstances.

Jacob Whitehead

Armirail delights the locals

There were several surprises on this fascinating stage, and chief among them was the performance of Frenchman Armirail.

The multiple French national time-trial champion would have been expected to make up the numbers of the 51-man breakaway, which was littered with big names including Carlos Rodriguez, Michael Storer, Lenny Martinez and Julian Alaphilippe.

And when Mike Woods flew up the summit of the category one Col du Soulor with 40km to go, the Canadian looked well placed to stay clear of the group and mount a challenge for victory. Instead, 31-year-old Armirail not only caught him but hared by on the descent, then extended his lead as the shattered field split into pieces behind him.


Armirail had an enjoyable day on home roads. (Marco Bertorello / AFP via Getty Images)

Inspired by being so close to his birthplace of Tarbes, just a few kilometers away, Armirail continued attacking on the penultimate climb, the Col des Bordères and then again descended expertly to extend his lead to two minutes. “He lives here and trains on these roads every day,” a Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale staff member told The Athletic. “He wanted to give his best.”

By the time he reached the foot of the Hautacam, Armirail’s lead was one minute and 47 seconds to Pogačar’s group – he was fiercely committed, even shooing away the Decathlon team car as they tried to give him instructions before the final climb.

However, within two kilometers, his advantage was obliterated. Pogačar’s devastating attack saw him catch Armirail like Speedy Gonzalez chasing a sloth, and Armirail’s brave attack was over.

Still, the memories the Frenchman generated for himself, and no doubt many of his family and friends watching by the side of the road. were priceless. He also landed the day’s combativity prize too.

Tim Spiers

Stage 12 top 10

  1. Tadej Pogačar (4:21:19)
  2. Jonas Vingegaard (+2m 10s)
  3. Florian Lipowitz (+2m 23s)
  4. Tobias Holland Johannessen (+3m 0s)
  5. Oscar Onley (+3m 0s)
  6. Kevin Vauquelin (+3m 33s)
  7. Remco Evenepoel (+3m 35s)
  8. Felix Gall (+4m 2s)
  9. Primož Roglič (+4m 8s)
  10. Cristian Rodriguez (+7m 26s)

Overall top 10 after stage 12

  1. Tadej Pogačar (45:22:51)
  2. Jonas Vingegaard (+3m 31s)
  3. Remco Evenepoel (+4m 45s)
  4. Florian Lipowitz (+5m 34s)
  5. Kevin Vauquelin (+5m 40s)
  6. Oscar Onley (+6m 5s)
  7. Primož Roglič (+7m 30s)
  8. Tobias Holland Johannessen (+7m 44s)
  9. Felix Gall (+9m 21s)
  10. Matteo Jorgenson (+12m 12s)

What’s coming up tomorrow?

Friday, July 18 — Stage 13, Loudenvielle to Peyragudes; 10.9km, individual time-trial

A lesser-spotted mountain time-trial. The riders will face a route that is only 10.9km long but which takes them up the viciously steep climb to Peyragudes. There’ll be no hiding for the favorites.

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(Top photo: Getty Images)





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