Overnight leader Ben Healy of Ireland meanwhile wilted to a 13min deficit on the day.<\/p>\n
French President Emmanuel Macron was on hand at the mountaintop finish, shaking his head in admiration as the 26-year-old shot across the line. <\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel was also left trying to limit his losses, finishing 3min 35sec down in seventh on the 180.6km ride from Auch.<\/p>\n
In the overall standings Pogacar now leads by 3min 31sec over Visma rider Vingegaard while Evenepoel is third at a daunting 4min 45sec.<\/p>\n
Vingegaard wasn\u2019t the only rider to be handed a blow, with UCI WorldTeam Cofidis Bryan Coquard suffering a fractured finger in a peculiar moment.<\/p>\n
While attempting to grab a musette, a small bag that carries supplies, from the roadside his finger was caught, which saw him drop out of the large front pack of riders.<\/p>\n
The peloton also passed him as he struggled to handle the pain, leaving him to chase the group on his own after the 33-year-old got back on his bike and finished the stage.<\/p>\n
Bryan Coquard in pain after suffering a fractured finger.Source: FOX SPORTSBryan Coquard gets treatment on a fractured finger.Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Pogacar admitted after the race that until now he\u2019s been cranky, complaining about attacks, the heat and tiredness.<\/p>\n
But he offered a different story in the Pyrenees.<\/p>\n
\u201cI could see that Visma weren\u2019t feeling so well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the last climb it was really hot but I was really feeling good,\u201d he said, explaining how he shattered the 12-man group still clinging on at the foot of the final climb.<\/p>\n
He also offered a broader explanation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the best moment of my career. It\u2019s been like a fairytale,\u201d he said of the stage win on a mountain where he had previously been beaten.<\/p>\n
\u201cI enjoy this sufferfest,\u201d he said of the long climb days. \u201cI\u2019m at the peak of my career. Once this fire goes out, my performance will drop.\u201d Pogacar admitted at the finish line his team had been secretly targeting this stage for some time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe plan was to win this stage,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m super happy to take time and win on this particular climb,\u201d said Pogacar, who fell heavily on stage 11.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t know how your body reacts after a crash. It wasn\u2019t so bad. The team did a super job.\u201d<\/p>\n
Protester interrupts stage 11 finish | 00:46<\/p>\n
The champion had kind words for Irishman Healy, who had a bruising day himself. \u201cHealy tried, he showed big spirit. It was hard for everybody today,\u201d said Pogacar.<\/p>\n
He also dedicated this win to Italian junior cyclist Samuele Privitera who died aged 19 following a fall at this week\u2019s Tour of the Aoste Valley-Mont Blanc.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was thinking of him in the final kilometre. This sport can be so hard. It\u2019s so sad,\u201d Pogacar said.<\/p>\n
Friday\u2019s stage 13 could shake up the standings again as it is an unforgiving individual time trial, mainly uphill, that the Slovenian has been looking forward to.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe race isn\u2019t over, just look at the next few stages and then there\u2019s next week too,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Pogacar also took over the polka dot king of the mountain jersey while Jonathan Milan has the green sprint jersey and Evenepoel the white jersey as the best young rider.<\/p>\n
Healy described his time in yellow as a \u201cwhirlwind\u201d after dropping to 11th, over 13min off the pace.<\/p>\n
There were three mountains on the menu Thursday as the peloton entered the Pyrenees. The pack was whittled down before Pogacar\u2019s astonishing attack on the fabled Hautacam, a 13.6km ascent at 7.8 per cent gradient.<\/p>\n
On Friday a 10.9km race up the Peyragudes mountain rescue airfield with slopes of up to 16 per cent await some potentially tired legs with the temperature set to hit around 33 degrees Celsius.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tadej Pogacar said he was in the form of his life after climbing to a commanding Tour de…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1700,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,85],"class_list":["post-1699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}