Pogačar strikes again in the Pyrenees to extend lead

• Slovenian pushes out lead to over 3 minutes heading into final week​

It was a head-to-head on the last 10,5 km of the Plateau de Beille climb, summit arrival of stage 15 of the Tour de France (197,7 km, start from Loudenvielle) and the winner was Tadej Pogačar, who put 1'08" into his direct rival Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike).

On what was a very hot day, the duel began when the Danish rider attacked from the top riders reduced group just after that his teammate Jorgenson had finished to set the pace of that bunch.

Only the UAE Team Emirates' captain could follow him, sticking to Vingegaard's rear wheel for the following 5 km until when, after an acceleration from his rival, Pogačar went clear with a powerful attack, without giving the Danish cyclist the chance to reply.

Pogačar crossed the finish line celebrating his amazing performance with an advantage on Vingegaard (2nd) of 1'08", 3rd place for Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) at 2'51", a solid 5th place for João Almeida at 4'43" and 6th for Adam Yates (+4'56").

The yellow jersey will leave the second rest day with 3'09" on Vingegaard and 5'19" on Evenepoel, with Almeida who sits in 4th place at 10'54".

The Tour de France will resume on Tuesday with the Gruissan-Nimes, 188,6 km with an easy profile.

Pogačar: "It has been an incredible day. I would have never imagined this kind of outcome seeing how the second week began. I'm super happy with my shape. It was a super hard and super-hot day, and I normally struggle a bit with warm weather... Yet my team did a super job.

The Tour GC is looking really good right now. We have a comfortable lead and just need to keep focused on these final six days of racing.

I have won a lot of stages in the Pyrenees. Somehow, I like these mountains, and it is reciprocal! As for Plateau de Beille in particular, Adam Yates had told me this was the hardest climb he had ever done and I'm very glad I could win here."

Tour de France – stage 15 results
1. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) 5h13'55"

2. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +1'08"
3. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) +2'51"
5. João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +4'43"

6. Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) +4'56"

Tour de France – general classification after stage 15
1. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) 61h56'24"
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +3'09"
3. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) +5'19"
4. João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +10'54"

The glorious day for UAE Team Emirates begun with a win in Italy, where 20-year-old Jan Christen won the Giro dell'Appennino (Novi Ligure-Genova, 198,5 km).

The Swiss rider built up his second seasonal victory (first obtained in stage 2 of the Giro d'Abruzzo) thanks to an attack on the main climb of the course, the Madonna della Guardia (6,9 km at 7,9%), when at 39 km to go he went clear from the peloton with Paul Double (Polti-Kometa).

The British rider gave up 5 km later, so Christen rode solo to the arrival keeping an advantage of close to 1': on the finish line, the gap to 2nd, Simone Velasco (Astana) was 56", 3rd place for Diego Ulissi.

Christen: "The team did a super job, almost exactly as planned. I went with Double in the last climb, also exploiting the fact that the team had made the race hard before. In the approach to the top I tried to go alone and I managed to pull it off and stay away to the finish."

Giro dell'Appennino results
1. Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates) 4h58'47"
2. Simone Velasco (Astana) +56"
3. Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) s.t.