Tadej Pogacar extends Tour de France lead with time-trial victory

PEYRAGUDES – Tadej Pogacar continued his charge towards an anticipated fourth Tour de France title when he stretched his overall lead to over four minutes by winning the 13th stage, a lung-busting 10.9km uphill time trial on July 18.

The defending champion dominated the 8km climb at 7.9 per cent to clock 23 minutes and beat Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard by 36 seconds, a day after leaving his closest rival shattered in the first major mountain stage in the Pyrenees.

“I’m super happy. This time trial was a big question mark already for me from December. I wanted everything to be perfect and the team delivered for me to be on the top,” said Pogacar.

“I started the day good, had an easy day in the morning and then nice preparation. From start to finish, I was targeting the mountain and tried to smash it as much as possible.

“I almost blew up in the end. But I saw the timer at the top and it gave me an extra push because I saw that I was going to win.”

Fellow Slovenian Primoz Roglic took third place, 1min 20sec off the pace, while Belgian Remco Evenepoel hung on to third place overall by the skin of his teeth following a disappointing effort that saw him finish 2:39 behind Pogacar.

After his fourth stage win in the 2025 edition, UAE Team Emirates rider Pogacar leads Vingegaard by 4:07 and Evenepoel by 7:24.

Meanwhile, rising temperatures and increasing speeds during the Tour have prompted sports directors to call for changes to feeding zone regulations, citing heightened risks of injury and dehydration for riders.

“We’re placing feed zones on flat, fast stretches where riders are doing 60kmh,” Philippe Mauduit, performance director at Groupama-FDJ, told Reuters before the start of the 13th stage.

“It’s so dangerous. A rider trying to grab a musette (feed bag) can break a finger or crash. And if he brakes too much, he’s dropped – and in that group speed, he’s not coming back.”

French rider Bryan Coquard broke a finger in the 12th stage on July 17 as he attempted to grab his feed bag and said he would abandon the race after the individual time trial on July 18.

The growing risk, particularly under extreme weather conditions, has prompted a re-evaluation of race-feeding protocols among teams and organisers.

“In 35 deg C heat, this isn’t a luxury. It’s vital,” Mauduit added.

“Do we need to wait for someone to die on Mont Ventoux before we act?”

The increasing heat across all the stages is another urgent concern.

“The Tour is just getting hotter,” noted Tom Southam, sports director at EF Education-EasyPost.

“If we keep racing in July, we need to start stages earlier – not 1pm.

“If the race finishes at 5:30 instead of 4:30 on TV, so be it. Something has to change.” AFP, REUTERS