Tour de France overall leader Tadej Pogačar suffered a big scare Thursday when he bumped into the team car of chief rival Jonas Vingegaard before the start of the 18th stage then went on to cement his grip on the yellow jersey.
“We were going to the start line, and the cars were also going. … We were cruising behind the [Visma-Lease a Bike] car, maybe a bit too close, and he suddenly … I don’t know if he wanted to brake check me, to check my brakes,” Pogacar said before the stage with a smile.
“I was not ready because I did not see the reason why he had to stop urgently, so we crashed into the car. But it’s OK. I’m OK. We’re good,” he added.
Ben O’Connor won the monster Alpine stage to the ski resort of Courchevel as Pogačar responded to attacks and stretched his advantage over Vingegaard by another 11 seconds.
With just three stages left before the race ends in Paris, Pogačar looks poised to retain his title, with a comfortable lead of 4 minutes, 26 seconds 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 more than 7,500 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. Vingegaard attacked his Slovenian rival, but Pogačar responded with ease. Vingegaard and his teammates also tried to hurt the defending champion earlier in the day in the Col de La Madeleine, but their effors left Pogačar unfazed.
The reigning world champion never panicked and accelerated near the end to drop Vingegaard in the final 500 meters.
Before the stage, Pogacar was with Haoyang Zhao, a member of his UAE Emirates-XRG team’s communication department, when he hit the Visma-Lease a Bike car.
“The riders were on their way to sign-on and the automatic brake sensor went off in the car in front of them,” a UAE Emirates-XRG spokesperson said.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
