Already a winner at Markstein three years ago, the Slovenian attacked 1.6 km from the top of the Haag Pass, located five kilometers from the finish, to win with a 38-second lead over his teammate Isaac Del Toro and the French nugget Paul Seixas, who took the white jersey for best young rider. This is its 25th success on the Grande Boucle since its debut in 2020.
The 19-year-old Frenchman at the same time climbs to 4th place in the general classification, 5 minutes and 19 seconds behind the leader, and only 15 seconds from third place on the podium, occupied by the Belgian Remco Evenepoel, who limited the damage on Saturday.
Juan Ayuso, who had been wearing the white jersey for several days, slipped to fifth place overall, three seconds behind Seixas.
Tom Pidcock, who returned to fourth place yesterday after a river breakaway, quickly crashed in the Col du Haag and found himself in 9th place overall.
In the Vosges forests, Pogacar’s UAE team controlled the race and never left more than three minutes to escape.
Six men broke away in the lead: Tobias Johannessen and his twin Anders Johannessen, Richard Carapaz and his teammate Ben Healy, Einer Rubio and the Frenchman Valentin Paret-Peintre. The latter took the lead in the first passes of the day and amassed valuable points in the race for the best climber’s polka dot jersey.
Tobias Johannessen and Richard Carapaz were the last to be caught a few kilometers from the finish, and finished 14th and 15th at the Markstein Fellering.
Frenchman Lenny Martinez conceded 1 minute and 41 seconds to the winner, finishing 11th, but remains 10th overall.
