Vingegaard and Pogacar set to reignite rivalry at Le Lioran on Bastille Day

Jonas Vingegaard in action

Le Lioran was the scene of Jonas Vingegaard's last Tour stage win over Tadej Pogacar in 2024. Now 2:42 down in GC, the Dane faces a brutal 3,800m climbing day.

Vingegaard and Pogacar ready to reignite rivalry at Le Lioran...

The Tour de France heads back to the mountain resort of Le Lioran on Tuesday, the same place where Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard took his most recent Tour stage win and his last victory over Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar two years ago.

Following the first rest day, riders face a 166.6km stage from Aurillac to Le Lioran on Bastille Day. The route includes 3,800 metres of climbing.

“This certainly brings back memories. Vingegaard and Pogacar had an epic battle here last time,” said Tour race director Thierry Gouvenou.

  

In stage 11 of the 2024 Tour, Vingegaard claimed his fourth career Tour stage win in dramatic style. Pogacar dropped him with 30km to go, but the Visma-Lease a Bike rider fought back on the next climb with under 15km left and surprisingly beat his rival in the sprint to the line.

 

“It's, of course, very emotional for me,” Vingegaard said at the time. “I would never have thought this three months ago.”

Earlier that year, the two-time Tour de France winner had suffered a broken collarbone, several fractured ribs, a lung contusion and a collapsed lung in a serious crash at the Tour of the Basque Country.

“I think that day and that victory ⁠really show what kind of ​character he is,” Visma-Lease a Bike sports director Marc Reef said. “He came back from such an injury and even in the stage itself he got dropped but fought back to win in the end.”

Two years later, Pogacar leads the general classification by a big margin, 2 minutes 42 seconds ahead of Vingegaard, who held the yellow jersey briefly in the early stages of the race.

 

Reef says the stage remains emotionally important for both riders.

“It means a lot for Jonas to finish there again but it also means something for Pogacar, I think, because he was beaten by Jonas over there,” he said. “For sure, something will happen in the GC.”

Tour race director Gouvenou doesn’t anticipate anything different.

“Knowing Pogacar and his thirst for revenge, the tactic will be simple: go all ‌out for the stage win,” he said. “His team will do everything to set him up to avenge his last defeat to Vingegaard in Le ‌Lioran.”

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But the UAE Team Emirates-XRG leader, who has already won two stages in this year’s Tour, downplayed any talk of revenge.

“It's a different stage. I'm not seeking any revenge or whatever. It was a good day at the time,” the four-time Tour de France winner said.

Bastille Day would ⁠fire up the home competitors, ⁠Pogacar predicted, saying: “We can expect big ‌fights for stage victory from French riders.”