In this Tour de France wherever Tadej Pogacar goes Jonas Vingegaard follows. They were locked together at the top of the Mûr-de-Bretagne, in the Côtes-d’Armor, with the defending champion winning stage seven of the 2025 Tour just ahead of the Dane and regaining the yellow jersey.
Pogacar is usually the quickest of the pair in uphill sprints, but Vingegaard has always been on his shoulder, with the world champion, Remco Evenepoel, still close behind.
Pogacar leads after Mathieu van der Poel faded on the steep climb to the finish, with Evenepoel 54 seconds behind, and the French breakthrough rider, Kevin Vauquelin, holding on to third place in the general classification.
The 24-year-old from Normandy has quickly captured the host nation’s affections. In the past that has often been a poisoned chalice, but Vauquelin has taken it in his stride. Vingegaard is fourth overall, more than a minute behind.
Even Pogacar has welcomed younger rivals, such as Vauquelin and Britain’s Oscar Onley, who was third on Mûr-de-Bretagne and lies seventh and showing consistent form in his second Tour. “There’s a lot of professionalism already at a young age,” he said. “To see young guys coming through is good, especially Kevin in the last two days.
“He has great support and Oscar Onley showed already how bright he is, with a punchy kick. He’s riding super well.”
Pogacar did not have a flawless afternoon, with his key climbing support, João Almeida, crashing at speed less than 6km from the finish as the peloton descended towards the second and final climb of the Mûr.
“It’s beautiful to be in yellow and win the stage,” Pogacar said, who dedicated his win to his Portuguese teammate. “It was a luxury to have João so close on GC. I hope it’s nothing broken and he can continue.”
He has others he can lean on, such as the tall, powerful Nils Politt, who Pogacar calls “Giraffe”, but he will need Almeida when the race reaches the first long climbs next Monday on the stage to Puy de Sancy.
On another hot afternoon it took 70km for a break to establish itself after a volatile opening to the stage. Geraint Thomas was joined in the mid-stage break by EF Education-EasyPost’s Alex Baudin, teammate to Thursday’s winner, Ben Healy, as the American team sought another stage victory.
Thomas’s escape ended 17km from the finish when he was caught on the first ascent of the Mûr. But after a disappointing start from Ineos Grenadiers, the Welshman had at least got “stuck in”, to use his own phrase.
On the fast approach to the finishing circuit, centred on the dead straight two kilometre ramp of the Mûr, Pogacar’s UAE Emirates and Vingegaard’s Visma Lease-a-bike yet again jostled for supremacy. As the mercury rises, so is the tension between the two squads.
“The last two days, it was some strange racing from Visma,” Pogacar said. “Let’s see their approach in the next days. The weekend will be easier and then stage 10 will be a proper hard day of suffering with hot temperatures and lots of climbs all day.”
Stage eight is definitely one for the sprinters, with only a gentle fourth category climb on the 171km route from Saint-Meen-Le-Grand to Laval.
