Visma | LaB ignites early fireworks in queen stage, but sees Pogacar gain more time again: O'Connor wins after solo

One thing became immediately clear on Thursday: Lidl-Trek wanted to sprint for intermediate points. Despite the road already sloping steeply upward, the German-American squad took control all the way to Rioupéroux, where the intermediate sprint line was drawn. The peloton seemed fine with that, and so it turned into a sprint. Jonathan Milan extended his points lead over Pogacar to 92.

From that point on, the stage really began, with an early attack from Tim Wellens (UAE Emirates-XRG). The Belgian rode solo in front of the peloton for a while, which briefly split in two. Visma | Lease a Bike didn’t want too large of a group off the front and closed the gap. Still, Wellens remained ahead, with several riders trying to bridge across to him.

Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike), Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Jonas Rutsch (Intermarché-Wanty), and Alexey Lutsenko (Israel Premier-Tech) managed to bridge the gap to Tim Wellens. Behind them, things were far from quiet, with another chasing group forming.

On the Col du Glandon, the pace quickly became too much for Rutsch and Groves, while the peloton also began to ramp up the speed. Ben O'Connor (Jayco AlUla) was eager to be in the breakaway, but the bunch kept the tempo high. Soon after, Van Aert also had to let go, while an acceleration from Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) prompted Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) to show his cards very early in the day.

The Slovenian didn’t gain much of a gap, but his move did cause riders like Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) to follow. Still, the Wellens-Lutsenko duo, who were still up the road, remained just about thirty seconds ahead, keeping the action alive.

Jorgenson, Roglic, and Gall joined the duo up front to form a group of nine riders. Thymen Arensman (INEOS Grenadiers) was also among them, as well as Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious). The young Frenchman appeared to be struggling early on but made good use of a rather sticky bottle handoff. Meanwhile, attempts by other eager riders to bridge the gap seemed to be failing, as the peloton gradually lost seconds to the fourteen riders ahead.

Alongside Wellens, Arensman, Roglic, Jorgenson, Gall, O'Connor, Lutsenko, and Martinez, the breakaway also included Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Raúl García Pierna (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Gregor Mühlberger, Einer Rubio (both Movistar), and Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X). At the summit, Martinez, who had paced himself well despite appearances, managed to out-sprint Arensman for the mountain points. The fourteen leaders held a gap of nearly two minutes over the peloton, with another eight chasers riding 50 seconds behind the break.

Martinez was dropped on the descent, after which Mühlberger crashed. The Austrian didn’t go down hard and was able to continue quickly. Arensman and Jorgenson managed to distance themselves from the rest of the breakaway and started the Col de la Madeleine, a tough climb that followed immediately after the descent, with a lead.

Only Roglic, O'Connor, Rubio, Gall, Armirail, and the newly joined Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost) were still relatively close to Jorgenson and Arensman at the base of the climb. Meanwhile, Visma | Lease a Bike had taken control at the front of the peloton, clearly setting the stage for an early attack by Vingegaard on the Madeleine. Their pace caused many riders to crack in what was already a heavily thinned-out group. Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), for instance, was already struggling with 78 kilometers to go.

Little by little, the breakaway, already down a rider with Armirail dropped, had to let go of dreams of a stage win, as the GC favorites rapidly closed the gap. In addition to Vauquelin, Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) and Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies) also had to drop off, while Wellens could no longer be of much help to his team leader.

After Wout van Aert, Tiesj Benoot, Victor Campenaerts, and Simon Yates each emptied the tank (in that order), it was Sepp Kuss's acceleration that finally caused only Vingegaard and Pogacar to hang on. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) initially did well to cling to the yellow jersey’s wheel, but the pace soon proved too high for the German.

With just under 5 kilometers to the summit, Vingegaard finally launched his long-anticipated attack. Pogacar immediately followed, and the duo quickly caught up to the leaders, where Vingegaard still had teammate Jorgenson up front. Baudin had already been dropped, and Arensman couldn’t hold on once the two main contenders bridged across. Gall, O'Connor, Roglic, and Rubio bravely clung to Pogacar’s wheel, while Jorgenson took over pace-setting duties for Vingegaard.

The group of seven crested the climb together, while Lipowitz reached the summit just 30 seconds behind them. Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL) was trailing by two minutes, and Vauquelin had already fallen four minutes behind. Lipowitz then lost more time on the descent but managed to reconnect with Arensman, getting back to within about 40 seconds of the lead group.

In the valley, O'Connor, Jorgenson, and Rubio decided to break away. Arensman and Lipowitz rejoined the Pogacar group, where the pace had dropped significantly. As a result, the front trio quickly opened up a gap of a minute and a half. Lipowitz also made a move, hoping to start the final climb with a lead. With Pogacar, Vingegaard, Roglic, Arensman, and Gall essentially at a standstill, the German gained more than a minute in no time.

At the base of the final climb, O'Connor, Jorgenson, and Rubio had a one-minute lead over Lipowitz, and more than three minutes over the group containing Pogacar, Vingegaard, Roglic, Arensman, and Gall. Meanwhile, the group behind the yellow jersey, with Onley, Vauquelin, and several domestiques from UAE and Visma, was also steadily closing the gap.

The plot twist was complete at the foot of the final ascent, as the group with the domestiques rejoined the main contenders. Marc Soler immediately took the front for UAE, while Jhonatan Narváez, Adam Yates, Simon Yates, and Sepp Kuss also rejoined the fray. Up front, with just under 24 kilometers to go, Jorgenson dropped back, leaving O'Connor and Rubio to continue alone.

Jorgenson initially latched onto Lipowitz, who was still riding 1.5 minutes behind O'Connor and Rubio. But with just under 18 kilometers to go, the American had to let the German go. Behind them, Visma | Lease a Bike was setting the pace in the group of favorites, slowly reeling in the front riders.

With 15 kilometers to go, O'Connor decided to drop his breakaway companion Rubio. Jorgenson, who had fallen back, could no longer play a role in the group of favorites, while the Australian surged ahead as the fastest man on the road. Things stayed surprisingly calm in the yellow jersey group, especially after the fireworks earlier on the Col de la Madeleine.

After a turn at the front from Simon Yates, UAE took over pacing duties, and seemed to ramp it up compared to Visma | Lease a Bike. Still, no major attacks followed, and the stage seemed to be heading toward something of an anticlimax. But that was good news for O'Connor, who, at 8 kilometers from the finish, still held a lead of more than three minutes over the favorites. By that point, Lipowitz had been reeled back in.

The German rider paid the price for his long day in the break, which played into the hands of Onley. The Brit was the last to hang on alongside Roglic when Adam Yates began towing Pogacar and Vingegaard toward the summit. Still no attacks from that elite group, meaning O'Connor already knew well before the finish that the win was his. The Australian powered through throngs of fans to take a solo victory atop the Col de la Loze, his second Tour de France stage win.

With about 1.5 kilometers to go, Vingegaard gave it a shot, but his acceleration didn’t do much damage. Pogacar followed effortlessly, and Onley also managed to stay with them. Shortly after, Pogacar launched his own attack, even overtaking Rubio before the finish, further extending his lead in the overall standings. Vingegaard finished third, losing nine seconds to yellow (plus two bonus seconds). Onley impressed with a strong fourth place, closing the gap to Lipowitz’s third overall to just 22 seconds.