Yellow jersey Tadej Pogačar looked untouchable on a hot day in the Pyrenees, as he romped to a mountain time trial victory at Peyragudes on stage 13 of the Tour de France.
He beat closest rival Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) by 36sec over the 10.9km course, with Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) third, 1:20 in arrears.
Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), who started as a stage win favourite, did not have a good day. He was caught in sight of the line by Vingegaard and finished 12th, 2:39 behind Pogačar.
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Riding a road bike with no time trialling accoutrements, UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider Pogačar led through every time check, looking smooth and unassailably fast.
His fourth stage win in this year’s race, it saw him extend his lead to 4:07 over Vingegaard, and barring a major mishap, it’s hard to see the Dane coming back.
“I’m super happy,” Pogačar said afterwards. “This time trial was quite a big question mark already in December for me, and I wanted everything to be perfect.
“I was really targeting to do from start to finish all-out, and try to smash it as much as possible. I almost blew up in the end but I saw the timer and it gave me an extra push because I saw that I was going to win.”
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He had decided with his team that he would ride a road bike, he said, because he was more used to riding it and could push harder.
“This was the biggest decision – which bike. Obviously we race on road bikes 99% of the year… we did the calculations, and if you cannot push as much on the TT bike as on the road bike then it’s thereabouts the same time – I decided to be more comfortable.
“In the end it worked for me,” he added.
Pogačar said his ‘go all-out’ strategy meant he chose not to ride with a radio. Instead he simply looked at the digital boards at the checkpoints, and used them to spur him on.
He was conscious of not wanting to blow up, he added: “Maybe the last kilometres, from three to two, took a deep breath, reset a little bit,” he said, “just dropped a little bit of power – because I knew the last kick was super steep.”
Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL) both produced fine rides to finish sixth and seventh respectively, both just over two minutes down on Pogačar. As a result Onley moved up a place in the GC to fifth at 8:11.
How it happened
A mountain time trial, under the hot sun, on a steep climb: stage 13, running 10.9km from Loudenvielle to Peyragudes, was always going to be a brute. Pain faces were as numerous as ice vests as the riders set about tackling a course that climbed almost the entire way.
It comprised three flattish kilometres before the climb began, with the official stats for the ascent to Peyragudes being 8.1km at 7.6%, with some steep gradients – the penultimate kilometre for example averaged a distinctly unpleasant 9.7%, and the super-steep final 250m topping out at 16%.
There was no obvious leader until Aussie Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla) – 40th rider out of the gate – set a benchmark time of 24:58 that put him almost three minutes ahead of second-spot Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto).
With any luck, Plapp found the so-called hot seat comfortable, because he was there a very long time.
Over the next couple of hours, riders came, tried, and failed to get near his time. Not long after Plapp’s ride, polka-dot jersey Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) came within 23 seconds – the closest anyone would get for a long time.
But as the finishers came and went, Plapp’s time remained safe and secure. Clément Champoussin (XDS Astana) – the 92nd starter – became only the second rider to get within two minutes of Plapp.
The Aussie would have been aware the GC riders were on their way, but given the strength of his time, he probably allowed himself to believe, just a little.
More than 70 riders came and went, jabbing away at Plapp’s time to no avail. Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro Cycling) dropped in third fastest at one point at 1:04, Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) in fourth at 1:14, while Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), starting 74 places after Plapp, was clearly keeping a little something in reserve, coming in 3:30 down.
It was Vingegaard’s team-mate Matteo Jorgensen, starting 10th rider from the end, who became the first rider in 122 starters to beat Plapp through any time check, putting eight seconds into the Aussie at the 4km mark.
But Plapp had clearly ridden out of his skin on the climb, evidenced by Jorgenson losing nearly all of that eight seconds by checkpoint two at 7.6km and falling a few seconds into arrears at the finish.
But the big guns were all ready to hit out on the slopes, and by the time the top-10 – including Roglič, Evenepoel, Vingegaard and Pogačar had passed through the second check, Plapp’s time was down in seventh place.
Of those, Roglič was the first to oust Plapp from the hot seat, showing the ability that saw him beat Geraint Thomas to win the 2023 Giro d’Italia on the penultimate day’s mountain time trial. His 24:20 beat Plapp’s time by 37 seconds.
Despite his fast start, Evenepoel appeared to have some sort of technical issue, shaking his head as he seemingly crunched through gear changes. Vingegaard on the other hand, looked smooth and fast and put nearly 45 seconds into Roglič at the finish to momentarily take the lead.
However, having led the Dane by eight seconds through checkpoint one and 23 seconds through checkpoint two, everybody knew it was but a short wait before the day’s winner romped past the finishing post.
ResultsTour de France 2025: Loudenvielle > Peyragudes (10.9km) ITT
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 23:00
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +36
3. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +1:20
4. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +1:56
5. Luke Plapp (Aus) Jayco AlUla, +1:58
6. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, +2:03
7. Oscar Onley (GBr) Picnic PostNL, +2:06
8. Adam Yates (GBr) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +2:15
9. Lenny Martinez (Fra) Bahrain Victorius, +2:21
10. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, +2:22
General Classification after stage 13
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirate-XRG, in 45:45:51
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +4:07
3. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step, +7:24
4. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +7:30
5. Oscar Onley (GBr) Picnic PostNL, +8:11
6. Kévin Vauquelin (Fra) Arkéa-B&B Hotels, +8:15
7. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, 8:50
8. Tobias Halland Johanssen (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, +10:36
9. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, +11:43
10. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, +14:15