Slovenian Tadej Pogakar (Emirates) won the 18th stage of the Tour de France, the second in a row in the Pyrenees. Tour’s yellow jersey covered 129.7 km between Pau and Luz Ardiden, including the mythical climb of Tourmalet Hill (17.2 km with 7.3% incline) in 3 hours 33 minutes 45 seconds. Pogakar crossed the finish line ahead of Dane Jonas Wingegaard (Jumbo-Wisma) and Ecuadorian Richard Carapas (INEOS Grenadiers). Portuguese Ruben Guerreiro (Education-Nippo) finished 15th, 4 minutes behind the winner, and remains 18th overall, while Rui Costa dropped to 77th.
Overall, Pogakar is 5 minutes 39 seconds ahead of Wingegaard and 5 minutes 43 seconds over Carapas, the cyclists who overtook Rigoberto Urana (7 minutes 17 seconds) to finish 4th overall.
On Friday, the peloton will cover 207 kilometers of flat stretch between Murenx and Libourne before the individual time trial on Saturday.
