In search of a first victory in the Tour of Spain to complete his trilogy of Grand Tours, the insatiable Slovenian Tadej Pogacar stunned the Vuelta on Tuesday by winning the fourth stage alone in Andorra la Vella, consolidating his place as leader of the general classification.
After the hail, lightning: the day after a chaotic stage in the Pyrenees, finally canceled due to a deluge which fell on the peloton, the five-time winner of the Tour de France confirmed that he was indeed alone in the world.
The Slovenian ogre flew to victory just over 50 kilometers from the finish on the slopes of the Collada de Beixalis, the second difficulty of a short (105km) but steep first mountain stage, before raising his arms with almost three minutes on his pursuers.
“It was really a beautiful day. I hoped I could survive to the finish, and I did. Now I will be able to be more confident for the next steps,” Pogacar reacted to Eurosport.
The 27-year-old rider, returning to the Vuelta for the first time since 2019 with the ambition of completing his triptych of Grand Tours, is heading straight towards a new race without competition, as during the last Tour de France, where he had a little more asserted his supremacy over his sport.
No chance for competition
Unless there is a failure, the leader of the UAE-Emirates team should no longer leave the red tunic of leader of the general classification until the arrival in Granada on September 13.
“Whether I will keep the jersey until the finish? It’s hard to say it, but it’s true that now I have a good lead, so we will do our best to control day after day. If it is not possible to control, we will have to fight, but we have a very strong team, so we are ready,” announced Pogacar.
Behind him, a second race is taking shape for the podium contenders, between his compatriot Primoz Roglic, four-time winner of the event, the Spaniard Enric Mas, the American Sepp Kuss and the Ecuadorian veteran Richard Carapaz.
Leader of the Decathlon-CMA CGM team in the absence of French prodigy Paul Seixas, Austrian Felix Gall was the only one to attempt to follow “Pogi”, for around 500 meters, before then setting off in pursuit in a group of nine runners.
He finished third in the sprint, behind the young Belgian Jarno Widar, a few seconds ahead of Carapaz and the Dane Mattias Skjelmose, unable to keep up with the pace of the chasing group.
After Monaco, Manosque, the Pyrenees and Andorra, the runners will return to the Spanish roads on Wednesday between Falset, southwest of Barcelona and Roquetes, in a 173.3 kilometer stage promised to the sprinters.
