{"id":698717,"date":"2026-07-18T17:25:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T17:25:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/698717\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T17:25:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T17:25:11","slug":"pogacar-attacks-%e2%81%a0on-steepest-climb-to-clinch-fourth-%e2%81%a0tour-de-france-stage-win-tour-de-france-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/698717\/","title":{"rendered":"Pogacar attacks \u2060on steepest climb to clinch fourth \u2060Tour de France stage win | Tour de France 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tadej Pogacar\u2019s rapacious appetite for stage wins was in evidence yet again in the climbs of the Vosges, as he raced to his fourth victory of this year\u2019s Tour de France<\/a> at Le Markstein.<\/p>\n

Pogacar\u2019s attack came 1.6 km from the summit of the final climb, the Col de Haag, and 7.5 km from the finish line and left Jonas Vingegaard, Paul Seixas and Florian Lipowitz in his wake.<\/p>\n

But Seixas, a discreet presence since the opening weekend in Montjuic, matched Vingegaard on the rolling descent to the finish line, before dropping the double winner on the sprint to the finish and taking the lead in the young rider classification.<\/p>\n

The stage proved a setback for Tom Pidcock, whose challenge came apart on the early slopes of the Col de Haag, when Seixas\u2019s Decathlon CMA CGM team shattered the main peloton on behalf of their teenage leader by setting a relentless rhythm.<\/p>\n

Almost immediately, Pidcock lost ground and could only watch as Pogacar and Vingegaard rode on at the head of the group. In a few minutes, the Briton had tumbled from second overall earlier in the stage, to ninth.<\/p>\n

Ahead of them all, Richard Carapaz, the last of the escapers, was again closing on a stage win, just as he had been on Bastille Day, before Pogacar sped past him to win. Yet again, the Ecuadorian relived that disappointment as the relentless Slovene, riding with the favourites, caught him with just over 8km to go.<\/p>\n

Paul Seixas celebrates on the podium with the best young rider\u2019s white jersey after the 14th stage. Photograph: Anne-Christine Poujoulat\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

From extreme heat to monsoons, the peloton have had to master all weathers during this year\u2019s race. On Saturday, a deluge flooded the finish line at Le Markstein just as Pogacar\u2019s UAE Emirates XRG team decided to close down the day\u2019s breakaways.<\/p>\n

The storm broke over the peloton on the descent of the Col de Page, with Pogacar and his team briefly distancing Vingegaard on the slick bends to the valley floor. The Dane and his Visma-Lease a bike team were quick to respond, but it was a warning of what was to come.<\/p>\n

By the time the sun came out again, the early advantage of a small group of five, which included EF Education Easy Post\u2019s Ben Healy and his teammate Carapaz, was gradually dwindling. By the time they were halfway up the final climb to Le Markstein, with Pogacar unleashed behind them, the game was up.<\/p>\n

It seems the speculation linking the Tour leader to competing in this year\u2019s Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a is well founded. The Spanish race is the only Grand Tour he has yet to win.<\/p>\n

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The 2026 race stages its Gran Salida in Monaco and Prince Albert said on Friday: \u201cPogacar said he would be at the start, so I hope that happens.\u201d Pogacar said: \u201cIf the prince said, it\u2019s a high chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seixas is the youngest pretender to Pogacar\u2019s throne, but Luke Rowe, the former Team Sky road captain who is now the lead sports director at the French rider\u2019s Decathlon team, struck a pragmatic note. Asked if Pogacar could still be thwarted, Rowe said: \u201cIt\u2019s nice to be optimistic, but sometimes you have to be realistic. The realistic situation is that there is one guy substantially better than the rest of the GC [general classification] leaders and the rest of the peloton.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Welshman also made it clear that those still choosing to challenge Pogacar should do so with caution. \u201cHow many times have we seen a guy follow Pogacar, explode and lose time?<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re racing GC, then a lot of days it\u2019s about getting from A to B, being patient and conservative, which some people think is being boring, but that\u2019s what it takes to be on the podium in the Tour.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tadej Pogacar\u2019s rapacious appetite for stage wins was in evidence yet again in the climbs of the Vosges,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":698718,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-698717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=698717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/698718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=698717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=698717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=698717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}