Tadej Pogacar Raja Tanjakan, Rajai Etape 15th Tour De France 2024

JAKARTA - Tour de France's interim race leader, Tadedj Pogacar, demonstrated his ability to climb in the Pyrenees with his solo win in the 15th stage on Sunday, July 14. He dominated the mountain stage that served a beautiful 198-kilometer journey from Loudenvielle to Plateau De Beille.

Pogacar, a Slovenian racer, left Jonas Vingegaard on the final incline. He finished one minute eight seconds ahead of the Danish, who is his closest rival, to win his third stage at the Tour this year and the second in a row.

🏆💛 Master @TamauPogi wins again, WHAT A RIDE! 🏆💛 Le patron c’est @TamauPogi ! QUEL NUMÉRO !#TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/LDT1XDY6nZ

— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 14, 2024

Master @TamauPogi wins again, WHAT A RIDE! Le Patron cest @TamauPogi! QUEL NUM Badminton! #TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/LDT1XDY6nZ

Vingegaard launched an attack during the race with approximately 10 km remaining. However, Pogacar remained behind him as the two advanced in front of the front group. The two of them left to prepare a promising duel to finish line. However, during the remaining 5.3 km of competition, Vingegaard ran out of power and looked back, towards Pogacar with despair. The Slovenian racer immediately took over, passing through the Visma 'Lease a Bike' before disappearing in the distance.

"I never imagined a result like this after a second week. I was very happy with my condition. Today was very hot and very difficult. I was always struggling with the heat and the team did a very good job of cooling me down," Pogacar told reporters. "When we arrived at the bottom of the last incline, I was a little on the line when Jonas tried to leave me, but I could see that he started to suffer a little."

"When he tried to leave me for the last time, I could see that he didn't have the power to reach the top, so I tried it myself," said Pogacar.

As Pogacar crossed the finish line without any other driver being seen, he raised his hand after extending his lead over Vingegaard to three minutes and nine seconds. Remco Evenepoel, who is in third place in general classification, finished nearly three minutes behind the Slovenian rider, and the Soudal-QuickStep racer is now more than five minutes behind Pogacar in the overall classification.

Pogacar's dominance is so that only 36 riders have crossed the finish line half an hour after the Emirates UAE Team rider completed this stage. Monday 15 July, is a break and the Tour will resume on Tuesday 16 July which enters the etape 16. It will present a flat 189 km journey from Gruissan to Nimes.