Arensman triumphs with spectacular stage win in the Tour, on a day when Evenepoel withdraws and Pogacar lays low

Saturday was time for the final stage of the Pyrenees triptych. The riders were sent from Pau to the mountains, where the pace was immediately high. Many riders tried to break away in the flat opening phase, but no one managed to get away. For a brief moment, a trio had a half-minute lead, but they too were caught again.

That was all in the run-up to the intermediate sprint, which came after 70 kilometers. Before that, we saw Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) crash. The Dane was lying alone on a traffic island and was able to continue after some time with the race doctor. He had a very long day of chasing ahead of him.

On the first slopes of the Tourmalet, which came immediately after the intermediate sprint, it became clear that Remco Evenepoel also had a very long day ahead of him. The Belgian from Soudal-QuickStep was dropped very early after his poor performance in the time trial on Friday. This seemed to put an end to Evenepoel's ambitions in the GC.

Not much later, it became clear that it would even be game over for the wearer of the white jersey. After some frustration towards the cameras, and also a very nice gesture towards a young fan along the road, Evenepoel got into the car. The same happened to Skjelmose, who also abandoned the race after his crash earlier in the day.

Meanwhile, a group of about twenty riders had pulled away on the Tourmalet. With Arensman, Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious), Ben O'Connor (Jayco AlUla), Sepp Kuss (Visma | Lease a Bike), Enric Mas (Movistar), and Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X) among others, it was a pretty strong group. But they didn't seem to be working together much, and Martinez broke away solo well before the top.

In the peloton, UAE Emirates-XRG set the pace. As a result, it was too fast for many riders early on, and the pack thinned out to about 35 riders with just under 100 kilometers to go. With a 3.35-minute lead over the peloton, Martinez came to the top, while the group of sixteen chasers was just under two minutes behind the Frenchman. Time for the descent, which could be quite tricky in the light rain and fog.

The descent was hectic, to say the least. It became clear that Martinez lost a significant portion of his advantage due to the challenging conditions. The group of sixteen pursuers split behind the Frenchman, where Kuss and Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step) took a lead over the other fourteen attackers.

Next up was the not-too-long Col d'Aspin. Just after the top of that climb, Kuss and Paret-Peintre joined Martinez, giving us a trio at the front. At that point, the fourteen chasers were just under two minutes behind, while the peloton was 3.40 minutes behind the leading trio.

In the run-up to the Col de Peyresourde, we then saw a split in the group of chasers. Arensman, O'Connor, Johannessen, Carlos Rodriguez (INEOS Grenadiers), and Simon Yates (Visma | Lease a Bike) had broken away from the rest, but seemed to be closing the gap again on the first sections of the climb. This meant that the gap between the leading trio and the first chasers had been reduced considerably, to around 25 seconds.

On the slopes of the Peyresourde, a new leading group of six emerged: Martinez, Kuss, Paret-Peintre, Arensman, Rodriguez, and Johannessen. O'Connor was not far behind with Simon Yates and Einer Rubio (Movistar), while Emiel Verstrynge (Alpecin-Deceuninck) was struggling a little further back. Arensman did most of the work at the front, so the Dutchman seemed to be working mainly for his team leader, Rodriguez.

Appearances can be deceiving, because it was Arensman himself who accelerated with just over 36 kilometers to go. He was joined by Martinez and Johannessen, after which another acceleration followed. The INEOS Grenadiers rider took off and left everyone behind. In no time, Arensman had built up a nice lead.

At the top of the Col de Peyresourde, Arensman had a minute and a half lead over his closest rivals: Paret-Peintre, Rodriguez, Martinez, Rubio, and Johannessen. In the peloton, Pogacar probably also realized that it would not be possible to catch up, as the gap to Arensman had increased to 3 minutes and 30 seconds. Marc Soler, therefore, took the lead and increased the pace, but the Dutchman seemed to be in excellent shape.

Simon Yates, Kuss, and O'Connor had meanwhile rejoined the five chasers, but they arrived at the foot of the final climb two minutes behind Arensman. The peloton was still more than three minutes behind, so the pace had to be set very high to catch up with the Dutchman.

With more than fourteen kilometers to go, the pace was too high for Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike), and the American fell behind. His teammate Victor Campenaerts managed to stay with the group. The peloton now consisted of fifteen riders, while the chasers behind Arensman refused to give up.

The Dutchman wasn't losing much time to the group with the yellow jersey, so things were looking increasingly promising. With seven kilometers to go, Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) decided to accelerate. Johannessen was the last rider from the breakaway group to be caught, apart from Arensman, while the Dutchman still had a 2.30-minute lead over the group of favorites with six kilometers to go.

With just under five kilometers to go, it was Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) who had to let go in the group of favorites, after which it also seemed to be going too fast for Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost). But everyone was still waiting for Pogacar to accelerate, as Adam Yates's turn at the front lasted for some time. Gall now had a half-minute lead over the group with the yellow jersey.

It was - somewhat against expectations - Jonas Vingegaard who made the move. The Dane from Visma | Lease a Bike got Pogacar on his wheel, while Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) also rejoined the group. Another acceleration by Pogacar quickly cost the German the lead, while Vingegaard immediately tried again. The world champion was able to follow the pace once more.

The Pogacar-Vingegaard duo got closer and closer to Arensman, but the Dutchman showed no signs of slowing down. The INEOS Grenadiers rider won a fantastic stage, which proved to be the biggest victory of his career. Behind them, Pogacar won the sprint for second place against Vingegaard, on a day in which the Tour saw the white jersey wearer abandon the race.