Pogacar breaks Alpe d’Huez record to extend Tour de France lead
Tadej Pogacar stormed to victory in a record-breaking time on Alpe d’Huez amid a “crazy atmosphere” on Friday’s 19th stage as he extended his overall lead at the Tour de France. Having launched his attack with 12km left, the reigning champion finally caught Richard Carapaz and Lenny Martinez inside the final two kilometres. He then […] The post Pogacar breaks Alpe d’Huez record to extend Tour de France lead appeared first on The Namibian .
Tadej Pogacar stormed to victory in a record-breaking time on Alpe d’Huez amid a “crazy atmosphere” on Friday’s 19th stage as he extended his overall lead at the Tour de France.
Having launched his attack with 12km left, the reigning champion finally caught Richard Carapaz and Lenny Martinez inside the final two kilometres.
He then surged clear with 800m left and in doing so broke late Italian Marco Pantani’s 31-year-old record for the Alpe d’Huez ascent.
“It’s very cool to win up here — it was a crazy atmosphere,” said Pogacar.
“It was thanks to all the team that I could pull it off in the end.
“I was riding for the team-mates today and it was a great victory.”
Several of Pogacar’s UAE Emirates-XRG team-mates have been suffering with illness and injury, while Brandon McNulty abandoned the race on Thursday with flu-like symptoms.
