The Polish Michal Kwiatkowski won alone on Friday at the top of the Grand Colombier where Tadej Pogacar still grabbed eight seconds over Jonas Vingegaard during a July 14 which once again did not smile on the French.
“Long live France”, released the Ineos runner barely getting off his bike, after a monumental feat in the blaze of “the pyramid of Bugey”, transformed into a football stadium, where he resisted the return of the UAE pack launched in pursuit.
“It was a completely crazy experience. Without the public I would not have won. He was exceptional. He pushed me to the top”, commented the hero of the day whom everyone in the peloton calls “Kwiatko”.
Arrived at the foot with four minutes ahead of the favorites, he sowed his last breakaway companions eleven kilometers from the finish to maintain a 47-second lead over Maxim van Gils and 50 over Tadej Pogacar.
Attacking 500 meters from the summit, Pogacar beat Jonas Vingegaard by four seconds there to transform the hard work of his UAE team who towed the peloton throughout the day and swallowed the 17.4 km non-category climb in apnea.
With the four bonus seconds reserved for the third of the stage, the Slovenian is nine seconds behind the Dane in the general classification, on the eve of the first alpine stage.
For Pogacar, “it was worth it”
” We take. I tried to unclamp Jonas with a long sprint. I was afraid of not being able to finish, but it was worth it”, commented Pogacar who broke the record for the ascent of the Grand Colombier where he had won in 2020, en route to his first coronation at Paris.
“I know that in a final like that, he is much more explosive than me,” commented Vingegaard. The Dane said he was “not at all worried” about having been able to count on Sepp Kuss alone in the final, while his rival was escorted by three lieutenants.
Pogacar would have liked to win a second stage in this Tour in the Jura. But he fell on a Kwiatkowski unleashed and concentrated on his effort despite sometimes folkloric spectators, bare buttocks or disguised as Obélix by more than 30 degrees in the shade.
It must be said that the Pole is not just anyone. 2014 world champion and winner at Milan-Sanremo in particular, the Ineos rider is, at 33, one of the most glamorous teammates in the peloton.
In 2020, he had beaten his teammate Richard Carapaz at La Roche-sur-Foron for his first Tour victory. This time he was able to “savor” his feat for a long time, which crowns the excellent overall result of the Ineos team, with two riders – Carlos Rodriguez and Tom Pidcock – in the Top 8 overall.
Helpless Gaudu
“We must rename Bastille Day”, the name that the Anglo-Saxons give to July 14, “in Kwiatko Day”, estimated Pidcock who himself experienced the intoxication of winning that day on a pass prestigious. It was last year in Alpe d’Huez.
The hypothesis of seeing a Frenchman triumph on Friday at the Grand Colombier has never existed. Romain Bardet and Thibaut Pinot lost their footing seven kilometers from the summit to cross the line almost three minutes behind Pogacar.
David Gaudu still clings to the Top 10 – ninth at 6:52 from the yellow jersey – but has once again failed to follow the best. Pogacar and Vingegaard obviously, but also Rodriguez, Pidcock, Jai Hindley or the Yates brothers.
“I may be 100% physically, in front it is two notches above me”, noted the leader of Groupama-FDJ. “UAE, they rode like crazy all day. I don’t explode, but I let go at 2.5km because I’m at full speed. I can’t do much more, I’m 100%. That’s how it is,” he added fatalistically.
It will therefore be necessary to wait at least one more year to find a successor to Warren Barguil, the last Frenchman to have won a July 14 on the Tour de France, in 2017.
But Friday was “Kwiatko Day”.