Add the Gazzetta del Sud as a source
A man alone against himself, on the twenty-one packed hairpin bends of Alpe d’Huez. The appeal of history is too great, the name of the final climb is too high-sounding to rest on the laurels of a Tour de France that has already closed with a double header.
Faced with a never-conquered peak, one of the longest-standing climbing records in cycling and the name of the person who holds it (Marco Pantani, since 1995), Tadej Pogacar’s cannibalistic palate becomes tempted, and it matters little if at the start of the final 13 kilometers the fugitives have a cosmic advantage.
The Slovenian’s run-up – except for the stretch in which he finds his partner Adam Yates – is a prodigious and at the same time intimate journey amidst the din of the crowd, which opens up at every turn in front of him like a Moses in a yellow jersey.
A journey that leads to the fifth victory of his Grande Boucle: now a routine, but at the finish line his joy is that of special days, those that you can call triumphs, which earn a place on the front page in the album of memories. A champion knows when he has accomplished a feat.
The extraordinary comeback of the Slovenian
The only way to win given the circumstances, with the day’s breakaway – packed with riders – arriving at the foot of the climb with a 3’15” lead and with several dangerous men inside.
The Slovenian has no time to waste and starts progressing up the first ramps with a pace that is impossible for his direct rivals in the general classification: he catches up on the attackers of the day one by one, until he catches up with a still very generous Richard Carapaz and Lenny Martinez at -1500 metres.
The road is clear, everything seems to point to a sprint, but the yellow jersey is hungry, attacks again and flies to the finish line alone.
Pantani’s record has been broken
Pantani’s record (who even held the three best times ever on the Alpe) was mercilessly crumbled: 35’25” against the 36’50” of the Romagna native.
Behind him, Martinez beats Carapaz for second place in the stage, while for second place overall Remco Evenepoel pulls ahead of Isaac del Toro, who in turn eats four small seconds over Paul Seixas and Mattias Skjelmose.
The Dane overtakes his teammate Juan Ayuso, who collapsed at the start of the climb, but does not gain fifth place in the ranking, overtaken by nine seconds by the fugitive Martinez. The ‘Locomotora del Carchì’ Carapaz, however, rose to eighth place, after another Garibaldian stage and an Alpe d’Huez in which it launched attacks at every turn.
Pogacar’s words
«It’s something special, there was a crazy atmosphere on the entire climb – says Pogacar at the finish line -. I have to thank the whole team, I was racing for them. I knew I had great legs and said ‘let’s give it a try’, then I found Adam Yates to give me an extra push for a couple of kilometres, I’m glad he’s well again. The main stage arrives tomorrow, we’ll see.”
In fact, the games are not over yet: neither for the Slovenian’s throat, nor for the placings of the others: there are Col de la Croix de Fer, Col du Galibier and Col de Sarenne waiting for the group, before arriving at the top of Alpe d’Huez again.