An iconic venue such as Mûr-de-Bretagne called for a thrilling battle between the biggest names of cycling - and it delivered, as Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) asserted his iridescent dominance, claiming his second victory in this year’s Tour de France. On a day that celebrated Bernard Hinault's legacy, the Slovenian star mastered the final gradients to swap again his rainbow jersey for the Maillot Jaune and take his 19th stage win in the event. This is 42nd time Pogacar leads the overall standings. Jonas Vingegaard and Oscar Onley completed the stage top 3 while Mathieu Van der Poel, 22nd on his return to Mûr-de-Bretagne, dropped down to the 5th position overall (+1’29’’).
The peloton is back together in Saint-Malo with 179 riders. With another explosive finale in sight, many are eager to break away, after Ben Healy’s triumph in Vire Normandie on day 6.
G makes the break
Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) immediately launches an attack with Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla), but the duo only manage to stay in the lead for 20 kilometres.
The tone is set in the peloton, with a blistering pace to prevent the formation of a large group. In the wake of these early attackers, numerous riders make repeated attempts to break away, including tireless attackers such as Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) and Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ).
After one hour, the peloton have already covered 53.7 kilometres. And it’s only at km 55 that a group breaks away with Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost), Geraint Thomas (Ineos-Grenadiers), Marco Haller (Tudor), Ewen Costiou (Arkéa-B&B) and Ivan Garcia Cortina (Movistar).
Costiou enjoys his day in Brittany
Ore riders want to join them at the front but UAE Team Emirates-XRG control any further attempt to get away. Nils Politt then receives the support of Silvan Dillier (Alpecin-Deceuninck) to control the attackers. The gap never gets higher than 1’40’’, as the race passes through Yffiniac (km 120.5),
Onto the climbs of the day, packed inside the last 20 kilometres, the gap drops down to 1 minute and Visma-Lease a Bike take the reins of the bunch.
Costiou - one the seven Breton riders in the race - drops his breakaway companions on the first ascent of Mûr-de-Bretagne. On the line, he maintains a gap of 20’’ to the 35-man GC group. He is eventually caught with 12 kilometres to go.
Almeida goes down, Pogacar takes off
With Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) at the helm, the peloton fly towards the second ascent of Mûr-de-Bretagne. But a hard tumble with 6 kilometres to go takes Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) out of the equation.
Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) leads Pogacar at the bottom of the ascent (2km at 6.9% with gradients up to 15%). After a first acceleration from the Slovenian, nine riders face off in the final sprint… And nobody can match Pogacar’s pace when he sprints to the line ahead of Vingegaard and Picnic PostNL’s Oscar Onley (+2’’).
Pogacar regains the Maillot Jaune on the eve of a stage to Laval, where he had claimed the overall lead in the Tour 2021. He is now up to 42 Yellow Jerseys, as many as Jacques Anquetil, in fifth position of the all-time ranking.
