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Follow us on GoogleIt looked impressive, and it was indeed impressive. Tadej Pogacar has crushed the competition in the Tour de France and the existing Strava KOMs in his first two mountain stages. The Slovenian rider from UAE Team Emirates-XRG is up against an extremely strong field in this Tour, but still managed to gain minutes in stages 12 and 13.
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Pogacar's Strava account is quite impressive. Where you have to search for record times in the KOMs / CRs / Top 10 list for other riders, Pogi breaks them almost daily. In the first week of the Tour, this was sometimes due to the incredible pace of the peloton in this Tour de France, but on the four days that the world champion already added a stage victory, it was always paired with a record time.
Stage 4 Tour de France - 'Rampe Ste Hilaire'
On the fourth day of the Tour, we saw Pogacar attacking for the first time. On the last climb of the day, he tested his legs and pulled away from almost everyone. Jonas Vingegaard also struggled briefly, but ultimately managed to stay with his rival at the top of a 1.44-kilometer segment with an average gradient of 8.8 percent.
A steep wall, included in the Tour route as 800 meters at an average gradient of 9.1 percent, was completed by Pogacar at an average speed of 27.7 kilometers per hour. This gave him a ten-second lead over the first pursuers, although they did manage to catch up. In the sprint uphill in Rouen, however, Pogacar beat Mathieu van der Poel and Vingegaard to take his first stage win in this Tour and the 100th of his career.
Stage 9 Tour de France - 'Mont Dore-Les loges'
After Pogacar didn't even need a record time to sprint to his second stage win on day 7 over two ascents of Mûr-De-Bretagne, he found Visma | Lease a Bike's attacks on July 14 “annoying” and decided to push a little harder on the Mont Dore.
It wasn't long, but he managed to gain 13 seconds on everyone else, except Vingegaard. After the attacks stopped, allowing Pogacar to get on the wheel of early breakaway rider Lenny Martinez and ride to the finish with Vingegaard.
Stage 12 Tour de France - 'HAUTACAM AUBERGE'
Three days in the Pyrenees began with a day over the Col du Soulor and the climb to Hautacam. Visma | Lease a Bike set the pace on the first climb of the day, but on Strava, Pogacar secretly took the KOM: 32 minutes and 58 seconds. Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL) was one second slower and, with his estimated weight of 62 kilograms, had to pedal at 5.8 watts per kilogram to keep up with the first group on this climb.
On Hautacam, Onley was almost as fast, with Pogacar taking off from the foot and quickly leaving Vingegaard and company behind. Based on the results, we already know that he beat the Dane by 2 hours and 10 minutes, with Pogacar racing up in 28 minutes and 18 seconds at an average speed of 23 km/h. Onley was 2.42 minutes slower in the Strava segment, again averaging 5.8 watts per kilogram. Pogacar was therefore well above 6 for half an hour.
Best time for this Tour stage in Strava? David Gaudu, 2022, 3.45 minutes slower...
Stage 13 Tour de France - 'Peyragudes'
On day 13, a climbing time trial to the top of Peyragudes followed, and you guessed it: another record! Since it was not a stage race but a climbing time trial, it is understandable that the record times are only from 2025. Pogacar took just under 18 minutes to complete the segment and once again achieved an incredible average speed of 25.3 kilometers per hour on a climb of almost 8 kilometers at an average gradient of 7.5 percent...
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Bram van der PloegEditor-in-chief
Bram van der Ploeg (35) is the proud founder of In de Leiderstrui, IDL Pro Cycling's parent site, launched in 2018. Finally, he could create stories about the sport he had followed since childhood. He is the editor-in-chief on paper, but prefers to be with his recorder next to a rider, a team bus, or in the mud at a cyclocross race. Every year, from February to the end of May, Bram follows the entire Italian cycling season, from the Trofeo Laigueglia to the Giro d'Italia, with the grand finale in October in Lombardy. During that time, he lives in Tuscany, where he has since come to call Italy his 'home'.
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