per Domestique Cycling<\/a>.<\/p>\nPoga\u010dar has already exorcised his demons on Hautacam, winning the summit finish on stage 12 and taking two minutes and ten seconds on Jonas Vingegaard, who beat Poga\u010dar on the climb three years ago to seal his 2022 Tour de France win.<\/p>\n
As Poga\u010dar said, Vingegaard has also shaken him off on Mont Ventoux and Col de la Loze. But so far, Vingegaard, a two-time Tour de France winner, has been unable to match Poga\u010dar\u2019s form this season. Poga\u010dar holds a significant four minute and thirteen second advantage on Vingegaard heading into the final week of the Tour, where the peloton faces Mont Ventoux on Stage 16 and Col de la Loze on Stage 18.<\/p>\n
In his rest day press conference, Poga\u010dar refused to call his ambitions for the final week a revenge tour. \u201cI will not say that I\u2019m looking for revenge or something, I just want to have better legs than those two days in the past. That\u2019s all, I\u2019m looking forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, these are iconic climbs in the cycling world, beyond the role they have played in Poga\u010dar\u2019s career. Even if he is not out for revenge, it is unlikely that Poga\u010dar won\u2019t want to continue his dominance this Tour and add winning on these ascents to his resum\u00e9.<\/p>\n
2. Young Contenders Vie For Third Place In Tour de France<\/p>\n
ROUEN, FRANCE – JULY 08: (L-R) Florian Lipowitz of Germany and Team Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe and … More Dylan Teuns of Belgium and Team Cofidis compete during the 112th Tour de France, Stage 4 a 174.2km stage from Amiens Metropole to Rouen \/ #UCIWT \/ on July 08, 2025 in Rouen, France. (Photo by Tim de Waele\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Getty Images<\/p>\n
Though Vingegaard has been unable to ride Poga\u010dar off his wheel through two weeks of racing, he has consolidated a strong hold on second place. It seems likely that Poga\u010dar and Vingegaard will occupy the top two steps of the podium in Paris once again. But behind them, there is an intense race on for third. That battle ignited during week two when Remco Evenepoel, last year\u2019s third-place finisher and white jersey winner (given to the best young rider), was dropped early on the first stage in the Pyrenees. Evenepoel abandoned the race two days later, vacating his third-place in the general classification.<\/p>\n
Now, it is Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL), and K\u00e9vin Vauquelin (Ark\u00e9a-B&B Hotels) sitting third through fifth. All three are eligible for the white jersey, making this the most thrilling fight for the young riders\u2019 classification we have seen in over five years.<\/p>\n
So far, Lipowitz has proven the strongest of these three. He is a minute and 23 seconds ahead of Onley and two minutes and 28 seconds ahead of Vauquelin. But this is Lipowitz\u2019s first Tour and the second for Onley and Vauquelin. They are early in their careers, meaning there is still lots of experience for them to gain and plenty for fans to learn about them. So, as the race heads towards the Alps, there are still outstanding questions about how these three will perform in the final stages of the biggest bike race in the world. These three round out the top five behind Poga\u010dar and Vingegaard, but if inexperience catches up to them, Grand Tour winner Primo\u017e Rogli\u010d (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) lurks sixth just thirteen seconds behind Vauquelin.<\/p>\n
Third in the Tour would be the biggest result of all their careers so far and a huge boost for all their teams. So, while Lipowitz holds the advantage, expect Onley and Vauquelin to try and challenge him. They should be some of the main animators of the mountain stages this week. Even if the podium slips away, they will still be fighting to wear the white jersey in Paris–a worthy prize itself.<\/p>\n
3. A Strange Battle For The Green Jersey<\/p>\n
Lidl – Trek team’s Italian rider Jonathan Milan celebrates on the podium with the best sprinter’s … More green jersey after the 3rd stage of the 112th edition of the Tour de France cycling race, 178.3 km between Valenciennes and Dunkerque (Dunkirk), Northern France, on July 7, 2025. (Photo by Marco BERTORELLO \/ AFP) (Photo by MARCO BERTORELLO\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Typically, the winner of the points classification is a sprinter. But this year could see a different type of rider prevail. Lidl-Trek\u2019s Jonathan Milan, a traditional sprinter, currently wears the jersey, having accumulated 251 points. But his grip on the classification is tenuous, as Poga\u010dar, the race leader, sits only 28 points behind the Italian sprinter. Further, Mathieu van der Poel, the former world champion and arguably the best Classics rider in the current peloton, is 41 points behind Milan after his teammate Jasper Philipsen crashed out of the race on stage three.<\/p>\n
Riders earn points in the green jersey classification at intermediate sprints\u2014which happen somewhere on the stage\u2019s route\u2014and the stage finish. Intermediate sprints always give 20 points to the first rider across the line and award out to 15 riders. Points available at the stage\u2019s finish vary based on a coefficient of difficulty: the more challenging the stage, the fewer points available.<\/p>\n
The green jersey was not Poga\u010dar\u2019s primary goal at this Tour, but thanks to four stage wins and high placement on several other stages, it is within his grasp. He is likely not done earning points either, as he is surely eyeing at least one more stage victory. The green jersey was not what wanted Poga\u010dar wanted out of this Tour, but he could take advantage of this strange year to claim the only jersey at the Tour he has yet to win.<\/p>\n
Similarly, van der Poel was not targeting the green jersey. Even after Philipsen\u2019s crash, he let several intermediate sprints go uncontested, but his explosive racing over the second week has kept him in the mix anyway. He has since gotten involved in a couple of intermediate sprints, which has put him on 210 points.<\/p>\n
Thus, the pressure is on Lidl-Trek to perfect their tactics for the final week. They need to carefully monitor early breakaways to ensure Milan can pick up points in the intermediate sprints of the difficult mountain stages where he will not compete with Poga\u010dar and the climbers for a stage victory.<\/p>\n
While Poga\u010dar is in full control of the general classification, the green jersey race could come down to the final stage and a reworked route in Paris that echoes the 2024 Olympics road race by heading up Montmartre\u2014a course that favors van der Poel and Poga\u010dar rather than Milan.<\/p>\n
4. Dwindling Chances For A Tour De France Stage Win<\/p>\n
LE MONT-DORE PUY DE SANCY, FRANCE – JULY 14: Simon Yates of Great Britain and Team Visma | Lease a … More Bike celebrates at finish line as stage winner during the 112th Tour de France 2025, Stage 10 a 165.3km stage from Ennezat to Le Mont-Dore Puy de Sancy (Super Sancy) 1318m \/ #UCIWT \/ on July 14, 2025 in Le Mont-Dore Puy de Sancy, France. (Photo by Dario Belingheri\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Getty Images<\/p>\n
Not every team arrives at the Tour de France with general classification dreams. Plenty of teams\u2014particularly smaller-budget teams\u2014spend the Tour hunting for stage win glory. Some teams have already achieved this goal; EF Education-EasyPost\u2019s Ben Healy won stage six before spending two days in the yellow jersey, and Jonas Abrahamsen earned Uno-X Mobility\u2019s first Tour stage win in team history on stage 11.<\/p>\n
But there are plenty of teams without a stage win or anything to show for this year, and there are only six more opportunities for these teams to make it happen. With the pressure ramping up, the fight to get in each day\u2019s breakaway will further intensify, especially with the green jersey race complicating break formation.<\/p>\n
Visma-Lease a Bike is also getting involved in stage hunting. The team came to the Tour aiming to win the general classification. It will be a tough ask for Vingegaard to achieve that goal, but he is a comfortable second place and the team still need to protect that placement. But, team tactics from the end of week two show the team is also interested in adding to their stage win tally after Giro d\u2019Italia winner Simon Yates claimed stage ten.<\/p>\n
Those two goals aren\u2019t always compatible, as the team was under pressure on stage 15, as the team\u2019s stage hunters remained in a group ahead of Vingegaard, who got caught behind a crash. The super-team has a deep well of talent on this year\u2019s Tour roster and are clearly turning to the likes of Wout van Aert, Matteo Jorgenson, and Sepp Kuss to find other successes to take away from this race if Vingegaard cannot beat Poga\u010dar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LE MONT-DORE PUY DE SANCY, FRANCE – JULY 14: Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia and UAE Team Emirates –…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":281104,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[2000,299,36,31323,16152],"class_list":{"0":"post-281103","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-france","11":"tag-jonas-vingegaard","12":"tag-tadej-pogacar"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114893728152210373","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281103\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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