Tadej Pogacar secured his fourth stage win at this year’s Tour de France on Saturday, launching a decisive attack 1.6 kilometers from the summit of the Col de Haag on the steepest section of the Vosges mountains. The Slovene rider, a four-time Tour champion, surged clear in the final climb to win at Le Markstein, distancing Jonas Vingegaard, Paul Seixas, and Remco Evenepoel. The victory marked Pogacar’s 25th career stage win at the Tour.
With approximately one week of racing remaining, Vingegaard remains the only competitor within five minutes of Pogacar in the overall standings, though he cautioned that the race outcome remained uncertain. Pogacar acknowledged that his confidence had wavered earlier in the week but credited improved morale after receiving encouragement from his partner and fellow professional cyclist Urska Zigart. The race leader indicated strong intentions to compete in the Vuelta a España in August, which would be his final opportunity to complete a Grand Tour victory sweep, after Prince Albert of Monaco publicly stated that Pogacar confirmed his participation in the Spanish race.
The stage reshaped the podium positions further down the standings. Tom Pidcock, the double Olympic champion who held second place overall, dropped significantly after struggling on the early slopes of the Col de Haag when Decathlon CMA CGM set a demanding pace. Pidcock slipped from second to seventh place by the finish. Meanwhile, Paul Seixas of Decathlon CMA CGM strengthened his position by matching Vingegaard on the descent before outsprinting the double Tour winner to take the lead in the young rider classification. Seixas now sits fourth overall, just 15 seconds behind Evenepoel in third place.
Luke Rowe, Seixas’s sports director and former Team Sky road captain, offered a realistic assessment of the overall competition, noting that Pogacar’s advantage over the remaining general classification contenders remains substantial. Rowe highlighted that his mentoring role with the 19-year-old has emphasized patience and conservative racing tactics during the three-week Grand Tour format, a shift from Seixas’s earlier season descending approach that resulted in a high-speed crash in June.