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Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious) broke away on the steepest slopes of the mountainous stage of the Tour de France, leaving behind his breakaway companions to solo to the first Tour de France stage victory of his accomplished career.
“I really love this moment," said Poels. "I always dreamt of winning a stage in the Tour de France.
"Obviously, with Gino [Mäder’s death in June], it has a special meaning. It means a lot to win a stage in the Tour. It makes me super happy. I only started to believe in it in the final kilometres. I had to go full gas. It was amazing, amazing. Gino was helping me today."
Poels has a storied time in cycling, with his Liege-Bastogne-Liege victory the crowning moment in a time where the Dutchman would have to work for others, like 4-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome at the Grand Tours.
"I really enjoyed my time with Team Sky," said Poels. "It was an incredible experience, but yet I never could fight for stage win. I could do it today and I’m very happy.”
A big breakaway established itself at the front of the race with 35 riders going clear after 40 kilometres of jostling to get free. With most teams represented, it was allowed to grow an advantage, but a crash in the peloton saw that lead balloon out.
A spectator took down Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) at the head of the peloton, and it caused many more to fall, blocking the road and seeing a short time of regrouping where the peloton took some time to get back up to full speed.
Some skirmishing in the breakaway group saw Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates), Krist Neilands (Israel Premier Tech) and Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious go clear at the head of the race over the top of the third last climb of the day. Unfortunately, Neilands crashed hard into a wall protecting from a steep drop off a descent, leaving just three at the front of the race.
Poels attacked on the first of two bolted-together climbs to finish the stage, the Cote de Amerands, going clear of van Aert and Soler and setting on a path to victory.
The general classification battle heated up on the final climb of Saint Gervais Mont Blanc, after solid tempo-making on the Cote de Amerands. UAE Team Emirates took over on the lower slopes of the final ascent, with Australian hopeful Jai Hindley (BORA-hansgrohe) dropping away under the pressure of Rafal Majka's turn of pace for UAE Team Emirates.
Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) took up the pace then, setting a high tempo that distanced the the rest of the general classification contenders, with the exception of Pogacar and Vingegaard. Then with three kilometres left to climb, Pogacar seemingly let Yates go, dropping away to cagily watch Vingegaard. The Danish defending champion for his part, didn't chase Yates, who started the stage over 5 minutes behind the yellow jersey.
Rodriguez rejoined the pair briefly, before Pogacar attacked hard in the final kilometre. He shot across to Yates, who was with teammate Soler from the breakaway, then had the pace made for a moment before attacking again.
However, Vingegaard was Pogacar's constant shadow, even trying his own attack in the final few hundred metres, though it became clear that neither was going to be able to shake the other and they rolled over the line for 16th and 17th on the stage, their 10-second gap on the general classification maintained.
