When the Tour de France returns to the legendary Puy de Dôme today after 35 years, the stage is set for the next slugfest between defending champion Jonas Vingegaard and two-time champion Tadej Pogacar.
Over 13.3 kilometers it goes up the volcano with an average gradient of 7.7 percent. The last four kilometers in particular are tough, when the ramp is up to 18 percent steep. “This is a special stage. It’s going to be super, super tough,” said Pogacar.
The initial situation: Vingegaard won the first duel in the Pyrenees in Laruns, Pogacar retaliated a day later in Cauterets-Cambasque. In the overall standings, the Dane is in the lead by a mere 25 seconds. “I’d rather be 25 seconds ahead than behind,” says Vingegaard, who doesn’t want to overestimate his rival’s surprising goal on the last mountain stage. In the run-up to the tour, it was expected that Pogacar could well be ahead by the end of the first week of the tour.
The other rivals: Vingegaard and Pogacar are in a league of their own. For the rest, it’s all about third place overall. This is occupied by the Australian Jai Hindley from the German Bora-hansgrohe team, who was also allowed to wear the yellow jersey for one day. “If it were like that in Paris, we would take it. It’s fine for us,” says team boss Ralph Denk. But that also means for the former tour fourth Emanuel Buchmann that he has to continue working for Hindley and put his own ambitions behind.
The history: On the Puy de Dôme in 1964, five-time Tour champion Jacques Anquetil and eternal runner-up Raymond Poulidor fought a memorable elbow duel. The late Poulidor, grandfather of Mathieu van der Poel, shook off his rival and ended up missing the yellow jersey by 14 seconds. He was never to get the coveted maillot jaune.
Legend Eddy Merckx always chased a victory in the legendary mountain finish in vain. Incidentally, the German Rolf Gölz took second place on the last tour detour to the Puy de Dôme, which is otherwise no longer accessible to cars and cyclists. The Dane Johnny Weltz cheered.
