Tour de France: Pogacar wins again on La Super Planche des Belles Filles

Image 1 of 21Tadej Pogacar storms to victory on stage 8 atop La Super Planche des Belles Filles at Tour de France 2022 (Image credit: Getty Images)Image 2 of 21Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) in yellow on stage 7 at the Tour de France (Image credit: Getty Images)Image 3 of 21Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe) in the breakaway (Image credit: SprintCyclingAgency)Image 4 of 21Sunflowers blooming at the Tour de France (Image credit: Getty Images)Image 5 of 21Stage 7 breakaway: Vegard Stake Laengen (UAE Team Emirates), Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe), Maximilian Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe), Kasper Asgreen (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl), Imanol Erviti (Movistar), Simon Geschke (Cofidis), Dylan Teuns (Bahrain-Victorious), Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo), Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo), Luke Durbridge (Team BikeExchange-Jayco) and Cyril Barthe (B&B Hotels) (Image credit: Getty Images)Image 6 of 21Primoz Roglic on stage 7 (Image credit: Getty Images)Image 7 of 21Wout van Aert in the points jersey on stage 7 (Image credit: Getty Images)Image 8 of 21Tadej Pogacar in yellow on stage 7 (Image credit: Getty Images)Image 9 of 21Sunflowers (Image credit: Getty Images)Image 10 of 21Ineos Grenadiers (Image credit: Getty Images)Image 11 of 21UAE Team Emirates and overall race leader Tadej Pogacar (Image credit: Getty Images)Image 12 of 21Stage 7 finishes atop La Super Planche des Belles Filles (Image credit: Getty Images)Image 13 of 21UAE Team Emirates stage 7 at the Tour de France (Image credit: Getty Images)Image 14 of 21Lenanrd Kamna leads a breakaway during stage 7 at the Tour de France (Image credit: Getty Images)Image 15 of 21UAE Team Emirates and Tadej Pogacar (Image credit: Getty Images)Image 16 of 21Dylan Teuns leads the breakaway (Image credit: Getty Images)Image 17 of 21Tadej Pogacar storms to victory on stage 8 atop La Super Planche des Belles Filles at Tour de France 2022 (Image credit: Getty Images)Image 18 of 21Tadej Pogacar storms to victory on stage 8 atop La Super Planche des Belles Filles at Tour de France 2022 (Image credit: Getty Images)Image 19 of 21Tadej Pogacar storms to victory on stage 8 atop La Super Planche des Belles Filles at Tour de France 2022 (Image credit: Getty Images)Image 20 of 21Tadej Pogacar storms to victory on stage 8 atop La Super Planche des Belles Filles at Tour de France 2022 (Image credit: Getty Images)Image 21 of 21Tadej Pogacar wins on stage 8 atop La Super Planche des Belles Filles at Tour de France 2022 (Image credit: Getty Images) Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) claimed his second straight stage victory of the Tour de France, edging out Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) atop the Super Planche des Belles Filles to extend his overall lead. Pogačar’s teammates whittled down the yellow jersey group on the first mountain stage of the race, and Pogačar himself forced the issue on the steep gravel tracks at the very top of the 7km, 8. 7% climb in the Vosges.

However, he was surprised by a late attack from Vingegaard, who zipped past the final breakaway survivor, Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe) an agonising 100 metres from the line. Pogačar was initially gapped by the rider now considered his biggest threat, but he remarkably found a final acceleration to nudge past Vingegaard just before the line. Vingegaard’s teammate, Primož Roglič, whose overall hopes took a severe blow on the cobbles on Wednesday, was the best of the rest, taking the final spot on the day’s podium, 12 seconds down.

Kämna held on for fourth place, crossing the line a couple of seconds further back alongside Geraint Thomas, who emerged as the best of the Ineos Grenadiers leadership trio on their first big test of the race. Adam Yates and Dani Martínez made the initial selection but suffered on the steep upper slopes, with Yates finishing ninth at 29 seconds from Pogačar, and Martínez 11th at 45 seconds. The most significant development from a general classification perspective, however, was the time loss suffered by Aleksandr Vlasov.

Considered a dark horse for the podium, the Bora-Hansgrohe leader was dropped more than 3km from the summit and ended up losing 1:39. Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost), second overall at the start of the day, started to struggle around the same time and, despite hanging in gamely, eventually lost more than a minute. Ben O’Connor (AG2R Citroën) was dropped even earlier and after losing time on the cobbles, saw any GC hopes go definitively up in flames.

David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), Romain Bardet (DSM) and Enric Mas (Movistar) produced good rides to finish in the top 10 and limit the damage to Pogačar to around 20 seconds, while Rigoberto Urán (EF), Nairo Quintana (Arkéa-Samsic), and Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) finished around the 45-second mark. More to come. Results powered by FirstCycling.