PERFECT POG IN THE PYRENEES 🔥 ｜ Cycling Moments Of 2024

For me, the stage of the year is the 15th stage of the Tour de France, which ended in Plateau de Belle. We saw a day in which Bismarck put everything he had to try to soften the race, to try to turn the Tour de France around, to try to put Taddy Pogacar in trouble again, but precisely all the work of Bismarck-Lieserbeck for the only thing that worked was for Taddy Pogacar to launch a demolition attack five kilometers from the top and sentence the Tour de France. That same day is when Winger saw that he could not get a new victory in the Tour de France. Fast and furious from the off, that's what we expected, full on, full gas. Straight away, riders were going out the back trap door, sprinters including Mark Cavendish knowing they would have a tough job to make the time limit. Romain Bardet was attacking, he wanted to be right up there, as did David Gaudu. He'd take the early mountains points, but with the descent coming up to Bagnard de Luchon, things could change again. And they did, a good breakaway went away. Biniyam Girmay was in it and he was half the more points in the King of the Mountains competition. He sprinted away ahead of Michael Matthews, but despite winning the sprint on the road at Marignac, he would then be relegated to the last third place in that particular group for an irregular move. In the breakaway ahead, it was breaking up once more. Richard Carapaz made his way across and it was Wismar-Lieserbeck this time who were taking control to ride. A quarter of a stage done, the gap at 1.30 and that continued a little later on with Jungles, Sobrero and Hindley up the road for a Red Bull Bora-Hansgrohe team looking to try and take a stage victory. Behind Wismar continued a chase and with 73km to go, a split in the breakaway. Forced by Jungles and Sobrero, not everybody had made it though. Carapaz, one of the big victims, he couldn't get there. Hindley pressed on. On the penultimate climb of the day, Healy had to do a job to get Carapaz to the front and the yellow jersey group, well, they were still led by Wismar at 3.40. Healy after doing his job, left behind by Carapaz. The Olympic champion wanted to be a stage winning champion at the Tour. He reached Maas, Duploos and Hindley. But in the search for a stage win, they'd have another man in the mix. Getting on on the final descent before the last climb, Johannesen was there too. Five stars at the front, two and a half minutes of a gap and they were on their way to the Plateau du Bay. By this point, there was a real danger that the sprinters were going to be out of time. 35 minutes back, as they started the climb at the front and Carapaz was the first to attack. The gap though was down to less than one and a half minutes and the group was whittling down too. Enric Maas gave it a go. And Johannesen by this point was riding strongly. It was becoming clear that the stage was going to the GC group. But what was left of that? As Vingegaard attacked, Evenepoel was dropped. Pulgacar though, sticking to the wheel of the two-time defending champion. Evenepoel had said he was searching for the podium. He was losing ground on the man in second place. But could the man in second place overturn things? Trailing Tadej Pulgacar at this point by 1.57. They were neck and neck on the road. But then with just over five kilometres to go, Vingegaard had been riding. Pulgacar had been waiting. Pulgacar would then pounce. Once again he'd ride away. Building an advantage and increasing his lead. Johannes Vingegaard came into this off the back of no competition since March. A nasty crash. He shouldn't have even been at the Tour de France. The fact he's been competitive has been incredible. Tadej Pulgacar looking for that Giro Tour double. He crossed the line with another magnificent win. The first man ever to do back-to-back summit finish wins on two occasions in his career. And he put more than a minute into Johannes Vingegaard. Finishing almost three minutes down, Remco Evenepoel in the fight for the podium. Looking good on the podium. Looking a long way from the yellow jersey. And more than three minutes now, the gap from yellow to second place. Tadej Pulgacar with six stages left in more than pole position. It was perfect pog in the Pyrenees. A third stage win of this tour. And perhaps one that goes a good long way to sealing the deal. They're the results after a very, very tough encounter in the mountains.