‘What Tadej just did was pretty special’ – Froome in awe of Pogacar after Alpe d’Huez heroics
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Froome, who won four Tour de France titles in a glittering career, watched as Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) clawed back a deficit of over three minutes heading into the finale to add his name to the winner’s board on the famous climb.After attacking with 11km to go, the efforts of Sepp Kuss (Visma–Lease a Bike), Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) and Stage 18 winner Richard Carapaz (EF Education–EasyPost) in the lead group were ultimately in vain, with Pogacar hunting them down in the final kilometre for the win.In the process, Pogacar’s provisional time of 35’27” beat the record set by Marco Pantani in 1997 on the legendary climb by over a minute, leaving Froome highly impressed.
”That’s a pretty epic climb we just watched there,” he told TNT Sports’ The Breakaway. ”What Tadej just did there was pretty special.
”All the viewers can be pretty happy they witnessed that because that was a record-setting time up there.
”It really looked as if the breakaway was going to get it there with Carapaz and Kuss leading the way there, but Tadej just destroyed everyone in this race.
”What he did there was nothing short of remarkable.”
Ahead of the final two stages, Pogacar leads the general classification by over seven minutes and looks set for his record-equalling fifth Tour coronation in Paris on Sunday.Having won the Giro d’Italia in 2024, Froome is also backing the 27-year-old to capture a first Vuelta a Espana title, with rumours that Pogacar is set to compete in the final Grand Tour of the year at the end of August.
”It’s really special,” said Froome. “Who knows how much longer he’s going to be going on? No doubt he’ll be taking on the Vuelta next as well, because that’s the only big goal missing from his archive really.”
‘Fairytale, Hollywood-style script win’ – Pogacar triumphs on Alpe d’Huez for Stage 19 victory
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Pogacar himself was naturally delighted with the victory but praised his team for their support throughout the stage.
At the start of the day, there was heightened speculation over the health of the UAE riders, following Brandon McNulty abandoning the race, and illness also impacting Adam Yates and Tim Wellens.However, Yates was on hand to assist Pogacar while Isaac del Toro – also rumoured to be suffering – remains on course for a podium finish.
”It’s very cool to win up here,” Pogacar said afterwards. ”It was a crazy atmosphere the whole climb.
”It was thanks to all the team that I could pull it off today. I was riding for all my team-mates today and I’m super happy to take the win.
”When I heard that some of the guys had been dropped by Felix [Grossschartner]’s pace at beginning on the climb, I knew.
”At the first kilometre of Alpe d’Huez, I knew I had good legs and not many guys who could follow, so I committed to the top. I had Adam [Yates] in the middle, which was a morale boost. I’m glad he is back. I was super happy to ride with him for a couple of kilometres.
”I had to fight with super good riders, but they were playing a bit with each other at the end and this helped me catch up and then take the stage.”
Highlights: Pogacar claims spectacular Alpe d’Huez victory on Stage 19
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But with the second part of the Alpe d’Huez double header set for Saturday, which sees riders tackle 5,450m of climbing as part of a 171km route, Pogacar is taking nothing for granted.
He stressed the importance of UAE working together to achieve their aims, not just for himself but Del Toro too.
”Tomorrow is the queen stage, the hardest day of the Tour,” said Pogacar.
”Now we won, tomorrow we will see. We go our own rhythm, our own plan, we don’t care about anything else, we go as a team and see what happens.
”We make sure that Isaac fights for the beautiful white jersey and the podium.”
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