Pogačar loses six minutes to Vingegaard, Felix Gall wins first Tour stage

It’s all going wrong for Tadej Pogačar in the final week of the 2023 Tour de France. Put in his place by a rampant Jonas Vingegaard on Stage 16, the Slovenian lost contact with the favourites group on Wednesday last HC-rated climb of the 110th edition and shipped almost 6:00 to the Dane. Fugitive Felix Gall–in his first Tour–cemented his place in the top 10 by winning the stage. Hugo Houle was in his fourth straight Tour road stage breakaway and was top Canadian in 43rd.

Where do we go now?

Wednesday found the 110th Tour de France looking for a new identity. No longer was it the Really Close Tour. But there was still plenty to scrap for. The first yellow jersey of the race, Adam Yates, moved ahead of Carlos Rodriguez in the Podium Tussle on Tuesday. Rodriguez has the clearer road ahead, as he is Ineos’ protected rider and Yates is working for Pogačar. A little down the stack, Gall was looking to protect his top-10 from Guillaume Martin. And then there was the King of the Mountains competition—Giulio Ciccone (63 pts) and Neilson Powless (58 pts) were trying to stay clear of Vingegaard and Pogačar, and Wout Van Aert was looming too.

The Course

Wednesday planted four climbs evenly over 166 km. The two Cat. 1s at the top of the order were both over 13 km long. The final ascent was HC-rated Col de la Loze, not as much steep (6 percent), as it was long (28.3 km). It crested 6.6 km from the finish in Courchevel, but there was a sharp rise to the line. It was another sweltering day.

Big day in the Alps coming up at the #TDF2023!

Four climbs, including Col de la Loze, the highest point of this edition, promise to make for a spectacular and completely relentless stage! pic.twitter.com/pETrBwGgR4

— Soudal Quick-Step Pro Cycling Team (@soudalquickstep) July 19, 2023

The action was wild right from the start with multiple attacks on the way to the first climb Col des Saisies and Pogačar crashing. Ciccone and Powless were both in the first breakaway but the American couldn’t hang. Ciccone took the maximum KOM points after the breakaway was caught. On the descent Ciccone, Julian Alaphilippe and another rider attacked.

It was on the Cat. 1 Cormet de Roselend that the day’s enormous breakaway formed. Ciccone was there with Alaphilippe, as was Hugo Houle. But there were also several GC riders 7 to 11: Stage 10 winner Pello Bilbao, Simon Yates, David Gaudu, Gall and Martin. Again, Ciccone prevailed at the crest, and he was now 25 points clear of Powless.

The 32-strong gang reached the foot of the penultimate climb, Cat. 2 Côte de Longefoy, with only a 2:30 gap on the Jumbo-Visma-led peloton. Would the mob break up here or wait for Col de la Loze? Back in the peloton, the pace was ejecting fellows, and Houle’s compatriots and teammates Michael Woods and Guillaume Boivin were dropped. Again, Ciccone cashed in at the top of the climb. Just after Houle and three others lost contact with the breakaway, Ineos took over from Jumbo-Visma in the yellow jersey group.

Col de la Loze

It was the last HC-rated climb of the 110th edition. The breakaway started its 28.3-km climb 2:45 ahead of the radically streamlined peloton.

By the middle of climb where it leveled out, the breakaway itself was whittled down to 14 riders. Bilbao, Simon, Gaudu, Gall and Martin were still there. The Vingegaard-Pogačar group was wee, and Ineos was its engine again.

Pogačar was dropped with 15 km to ride. Marc Soler stayed with him while Adam Yates carried on with Rodriguez in his pocket.

Gall took off solo. By tipping over first, Gall he would put himself right into the KOM race, six points back of Ciccone.

Sepp Kuss and Vingegaard made a thrust to really bury Pogačar, and, boy, did they ever. Rodriguez couldn’t hang with Adam Yates.

Gall’s closest chasers were Simon and Rafal Majka. The Austrian crested with Simon Yates 21 seconds behind him and Vingegaard closing the gap. Gall hung tough for the big win and eighth spot in the GC.

Adam Yates put over a minute between himself and Rodriguez in the GC. His brother jumped up three spots to fifth and is crowding Rodriguez for fourth.

Dare I say Thursday is one for the sprinters?

2023 Tour de France Stage 17
1) Felix Gall (Austria/AG2R Citroën) 32:36
2) Simon Yates (Great Britain/Jayco-AlUla) +1:38
3) Pello Bilbao (Spain/Bahrain-Victorious) +2:51
43) Hugo Houle (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) +25:15

2023 Tour de France GC
1) Jonas Vingegaard (Denmark/Jumbo-Visma) 63:06:53
2) Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia/UAE-Emirates) +7:35
3) Adam Yates (Great Britain/UAE-Emirates) +10:45
4) Carlos Rodriguez (Spain/Ineos) +12:01
5) Simon Yates (Great Britain/Jayco-AlUla) +12:19
38) Hugo Houle (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) +2:41:34