Cycling enthusiasts, some of whom slept overnight along the highways, cheered as the riders faced a rigorous climb on the Col du Galibier.

Slovenian star Tadej Pogacar’s triumph was made possible by his UAE Team during the ascendancy. Three teammates had his back, while rivals were left without support riders.

“I wanted to hit hard today. I’ve been training here for several weeks already and everything went according to the plan we set,” remarked Pogacar, whose squad spent the entire day fighting the infamous Galibier headwind.

Two-time defending champion Jonas Vingegaard, of Denmark, came in fifth, 37 seconds back. He successfully maintained the pace on the climbing part and fell behind on the down slope as he could not keep up with the pace on the descent part.

On the other hand, Remco Evenepoel of the Belgian Quick Step placed second in the general classification, 35 seconds behind the winner, and was participating in the Tour de France for the first time at the age of 24. Evenepoel’s second place overall, which he maintained despite being much younger and less experienced than other competitors, was 45 seconds behind.

“It was a good stage for me and the team,” said a smiling Evenepoel. “Neither myself nor Jonas were as fast as Tadej today. There will be others.”

Pogacar, 25, reclaimed the general classification he had begun to wear on the second stage in Bologna. Evenepoel had an opinion that he had been more careful than Pogacar, the winner of the day. However, when Vingegaard’s Visma team got another Tour title in 2023, they performed much better than they did then.

The biggest loss of the day was Richard Carapaz of Education First. Protesters forced Ecuador’s overnight leader to drop more than five minutes. Pogacar, the current champion of the premier cycling event, Tour de France in 2021, and Giro d’Italia in 2020, is trying to achieve a double that no other cyclist has managed since 1998.

The next stage of about 134 kilometer moving from Pinerolo was initially short but incredibly challenging. The first four stages were in the beautiful environment of Piedmont in Turin, Bologna, Adriatic coast, and Florence.

UAE of Team Slovenia was leading at front for the last 25 km of the ascent and one of them would get next to the other and push the pace that left other competitors struggling. Within 1 km from the summit, Pogacar, who had only been second to Vingegaard in the past two editions of the race, initiated an aggressive attack. Once he got ahead of them, the narrow and twisty path guarantee that his rivals would not lay their eyes on him again.

The wednesday’s stage five is another exciting sprinters’ battleground that will feature Mark Cavendish, Jasper Philipsen and Biniam Girmay among other fast men. They will fight for position along the 177-kilometer long race course which lies near the valleys between Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne and the village of Saint-Vulbas.

The International Cycling Union has introduced a new safety effort that makes this stage especially noteworthy: timings will be frozen at 3 kilometers from the finish line even if there was no fall or stall. This regulation is, however, designed to enhance safety during flat stages as the effects of the occasional crashers on the standings will not be very influential.

Stick with https://k8airdrop.com/ for more Sports, esport, games, news, guides, and more!

Discover the thrill of cutting-edge online slot games! Visit  http://k8.io/ now for an unparalleled gaming experience with the latest and greatest slot games.