COURCHEVEL, France — Ben O’Connor won Thursday’s monster Alpine stage to the ski resort of Courchevel as three-time Tour de France champion Tadej Pogačar responded to attacks from archrival Jonas Vingegaard and dropped him to cement his grip on the yellow jersey.
With just three stages left before the race ends in Paris, Pogačar looks poised to retain his title, with a comfortable lead of more than four minutes over Vingegaard, a two-time champion.
Stage 18 featured three extremely difficult ascents, including the 16.5-mile daunting climb of the Col de La Loze up to the finish. At 7.559 feet of altitude, La Loze is the highest summit in this year’s Tour.
Two years ago, Vingegaard dropped Pogačar on that mountain on his way to his second Tour title but could not deal a decisive blow this time.
Riding behind O’Connor, Vingegaard and Pogačar closely watched each other in the final climb, surrounded by buoyant fans braving the cold temperature and the fog. Vingegaard attacked his Slovenian rival but Pogačar responded with ease. Vingegaard and his Visma-Lease a Bike teammates had also tried to hurt the defending champion earlier in the day in the Col de La Madeleine, but their efforts left Pogačar unfazed.
The reigning world champion, who rides for UAE Team Emirates-XRG, never panicked and accelerated near the end to drop Vingegaard in the last third of a mile and increase his overall lead.
Pogačar crossed the finish line 1 minute and 45 seconds behind O’Connor. Vingegaard completed the stage podium, 1:54 off the pace.
“I was a bit scared of this stage, but it turned out to be a beautiful day,” Pogačar said. “This side of the Col de la Loze is easier than the one we did in 2023 — that was much worse. Whenever we climb that side again, I’ll definitely go for the win.”
Ahead of Friday’s final mountain stage to La Plagne, Vingegaard lags 4:26 behind Pogačar, with Florian Lipowitz in third place, 11:01 back.
It was O’Connor’s second stage win at the Tour, four years after his victory in Tignes. The team Jayco AlUla leader dropped his last breakaway companion, Einer Rubio, with 10 miles to go and then held off the return of the main contenders.
“It’s special to do it again here in the Tour de France,” O’Connor said. “The last time in Tignes was a complete shock but this time I got to enjoy much more. I had a super day today, I was finally back to being me after struggling for the past 17 days. My knee is absolutely screwed now, it’s really painful. It’s lingering there and it’s not going to stop until the end of the race.”
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