Tadej Pogačar continues to dominate the 2024 Tour de France with his fifth win in a mountain stage in a single Grand Tour. Jonas Vingegaard pushed high watts, but not enough to beat the Slovenian.

It was the last mountain day in this Tour de France. The stage finished up the one of the most regular climbs in pro cycling, Col de la Couillole (15.8 km, 7.3%). Richie Porte’s climbing record had zero chance of surviving, as the 2024 Tour de France has some of the strongest climbers in the history of cycling.

Before the final climb Derek Gee had spent 3,535 kilojoules for 3:26h at 14.87 kj/kg/h. The peloton used a copy and paste button from yesterday’s stage to Isola, where Gee had spent 3,478 kilojoules for 3:26h at 14.71 kj/kg/h. The pace on the climb was good—5.85 ᵉW/Kg on Braus, 5.25 ᵉW/Kg for 25 min on Turini and 5.45 ᵉW/Kg for 38 min Colmiane with the last 19 minutes being at 6.00 ᵉW/Kg.

Soudal Quick-Step were pacing for Remco Evenepoel and potential stage victory from the GC group as the loaded breakaway with the previous generation’s GC stars Richard Carapaz, Enric Mas, Romain Bardet, Wilco Kelderman had a low chance to survive. After Mikel Landa had finished his turn, Evenepoel attacked for five seconds but immediately stopped as Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar could easily follow his wheel. Joao Almeida set a high pace and Evenepoel attacked again but unsuccessfully. Vingegaard countered and dropped the Belgian. Pogačar and Vingegaard easily caught Mas and Carapaz with the Dane pulling more than the Slovenian. In the final metres, Pogačar cruised to his 16th Tour de France stage with a powerful sprint.

Pogačar averaged 6.52 ᵉW/Kg for 39:24 min. Vingegaard did more work at the front and despite losing pushed 6.56 ᵉW/Kg, reaching the pink trendline. Pogačar could have probably pushed at least 0.3–0.4 ᵉW/Kg more, if not more, but that was enough as he did the minimum to win another stage. Richie Porte’s record was broken by 2:34 min. 6.15 ᵉW/Kg for 41:51 min in the 2017 edition of Paris-Nice was enough to beat Alberto Contador and was a top 5-7 climbing performance in Porte’s career. Almeida, Jorgenson, Evenepoel, Landa, Yates and Jorgenson all did performances above the red trend-line, which was extremely rare from 2011 to 2019. The 2022 Tour of Norway with Evenepoel’s effort on Stavsro changed everything, as after that it became a norm.

Vingegaard added his fourth performance in the all-time great climbing effort graph. Only Marco Pantani now has more, with nine All Time Top 40 performances. In the 2024 now six different riders has reached this level – Pogačar (3x), Vingegaard (2x), A. Yates, Skjelmose, Almeida and Evenepoel. The 42.5 km long Tour de Suisse stage might have been the easiest possible road stage with Skjelmose, Almeida and A. Yates all doing high watts with fresh legs up Blatten. But it is still impressive, as almost no one had done better pure watts even in a mountain time-trial in the last 20 years.

Pogačar now has a 5-minute lead over Vingegaard before the final time-trial, where the biggest intrigue will be if Pogačar can take his sixth 2024 Tour de France stage win against Evenepoel, who was better in the first, flatter, time-trial.

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Tadej Pogačar again showed off his incredible legs, pushing all-time great watts on the popular Isola 2000 climb, winning his 15th Tour de France stage.

It was the hardest stage in the 3rd week of the Tour de France, featuring Cime de la Bonette (23.1 km, 6.8%) the highest paved road in France, and Isola 2000 (16.1 km, 7.1 km), which is a popular place for altitude camps. Visma | Lease a Bike put in the day’s breakaway Matteo Jorgenson and Wilco Kelderman as potential satellite riders if Jonas Vingegaard decided to attack and successfully drop Tadej Pogačar on the mighty Cime de la Bonette. But it did not happen, and UAE Team Emirates controlled everything in the peloton. Nils Politt did another great pull on Bonette, reducing the group to less than 25 riders. If the 2024 version of Politt had ridden the 2018 Tour de France, he at least would have been a strong contender for a podium finish.

The 18 rider GC group did Cime de la Bonette in 63:40 min, averaging 5.40 ᵉW/Kg. It was a high-altitude climb and 5.88 ᵉW/Kg normalized for sea level. They broke the 1993 record by Philippa York who on a 9-kilogram bike did the climb in 67:12 min, averaging 5.49 ᵉW/Kg, which was 3:32 min slower but 0.09 ᵉW/Kg more due to doing practically the whole climb solo with no drafting effect on an old bike.

Before Isola 2000 Derek Gee had spent 3,478 kilojoules for 3:26h at 14.71 kj/kg/h, which is a tough day considering how much climbing was done at a high altitude. Richard Carapaz had gained 60 KOM points after winning the Col de Vars and Cima de la Bonette mountain top finishes, becoming the new KOM leader with 101 points. Jorgenson and Kelderman were still in the breakaway, with Simon Yates and Cristian Rodriguez riding for a potential victory. But unlucky for them Pavel Sivakov, Marc Soler and Adam Yates did a strong leadout for Pogačar on Isola 2000, reducing the gap quickly to the leaders. Adam Yates’ pull was very long and impressive, as Joao Almeida did not even need to pace the climb.

Pogačar attacked early and immediately put a huge gap into Evenepoel and Vingegaard. Jorgenson was not waiting for his teammate and was fighting for a potential stage victory, but even almost a four-minute gap before Isola 2000 and a very strong performance was not enough as Pogačar was flying, and we were once again witnessing greatness from the best cyclist of all time.

Pogačar on Isola 2000 averaged 6.83 ᵉW/Kg for 37:44 min and 7.21 ᵉW/Kg normalized for sea level. Despite it being at a high altitude, Pogačar’s raw ᵉW/Kg numbers still are incredible, and he did the second-greatest climbing performance of all time, losing only to his Stage 15 performance on Plateau de Beille. Evenepoel with Vingegaard on his wheel did 6.42 ᵉW/Kg for 39:26 min.

Adam Yates in the first 17:06 min averaged 6.96 ᵉW/Kg, while Pogačar, Vingegaard, Almeida and Evenepoel in the draft pushed 6.75 ᵉW/Kg. After Pogačar attacked, he did 7.00 ᵉW/Kg for 20:38 min. Evenepoel and Vingegaard slowed down with 6.22 ᵉW/Kg and 6.03 ᵉW/Kg in the second part of the climb, showing how much better the Slovenian superstar was, pushing almost 1 ᵉW/Kg more than Vingegaard in the final part.

Pogačar and Vingegaard now both have three above the pink trend line performances. Vingegaard in the 2023 season did it on Puerto de Bejes (which we forgot to add in the previous article) and Izua-Arrate at low altitude. Pogačar has produced his three All-Time Top 40 performance in this 2024 Tour de France, making this the greatest single Grand Tour climbing-wise of all time.

Matteo Jorgenson lost 21 seconds to Pogačar, despite doing 6.06 ᵉW/Kg for 41:56 min from a breakaway. This performance alone would be at the very top of Chris Froome’s peak level, being similar to Froome on Ventoux in 2013 where he did 5.91 ᵉW/Kg for 59 minutes.

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Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard both did the best and second-best climbing performance of all time on the Plateau de Beille climb, making this the greatest climbing stage of all time.

It was one of the hardest mountain stages in the modern era with 198.5 kilometres and 5,071 metres of elevation gain. It was the perfect day for Jonas Vingegaard as it was hard and hot, but it would be difficult to beat Tadej Pogačar after the Slovenian did the greatest performance of the 21st century yesterday. Visma Lease a Bike with Christophe Laporte, Bart Lemmen, Tiesj Benoot, Wout van Aert, Jan Tratnik, Matteo Jorgenson and Wilco Kelderman tried to make this stage as hard as possible on the steep climbs, with high watts needed to stay in the peloton as follows:

• Peyresourde: 6 ᵉW/Kg for 20 min
  Mente: 5.6 ᵉW/Kg for 30 min
  Portet Aspet: 6 ᵉW/Kg for 15 min
  Agnes: 5.9 ᵉW/Kg for 30 min

Santiago Buitrago spent 4,019 kilojoules for 4:38h at 14.34 kj/kg/h before the final climb. Matteo Jorgenson was pulling from the start of Plateau de Beille and slowly reduced the group to eight riders. Joao Almeida, Giulio Ciccone and Carlos Rodriguez were distanced by the American climber who has been climbing better as the Tour de France progressed. It was a headwind up the climb, which slowed down the GC favourites. With 10.4 km to go Jonas Vingegaard attacked and only Tadej Pogačar followed him. Pogačar was on Vingegaard’s wheel until 5.4 to go when he attacked and distanced the Dane.

Pogačar set a new climbing record on Plateau de Beille, beating Marco Pantani’s 1998 effort by 3 minutes and 44 seconds. Pogačar did not have the perfect conditions as it was a headwind, but his performance was the greatest in cycling history. Pantani had a 6.96-kilogram aluminium bike but had higher CdA and rolling resistance than Pogačar, but on an 8% climb aerodynamics, whilst important, are not the most crucial thing. It is watts that are the most important like Pogačar said earlier this Tour, and the UAE superstar had perhaps the strongest legs any cyclist has ever had.

Pogačar did 6.98 ᵉW/Kg for 39:50 min, which is by far the greatest climbing performance ever, taking into account conditions and the stage difficulty. Sea normalised power for this historic effort is 7.27 ᵉW/Kg. Pogačar’s adjusted altitude score was 696, which means this performance was equivalent to pushing 6.96 ᵉW/Kg for 60 minutes at sea level. Jonas Vingegaard, despite losing 68 seconds did the second-greatest climbing performance of all time. The Dane did 6.85 ᵉW/Kg for 40:58 min. His altitude score was the second highest in history with 685. Until today, Marco Pantani’s Alpe d’Huez in 1997 was the best in history. Remco Evenepoel lost 2:51 min on a climb to Pogačar, but his performance still was the 23rd best of all-time as he pushed 6.53 ᵉW/Kg for 42:41, which for sea level normalised is 6.81 ᵉW/Kg. Evenepoel’s performance still is the third best in the 21st century. Pogačar’s Stage 14 effort on Pla d’Adet is the fourth best.

When looking at pure ᵉW/Kg numbers, Tadej Pogačar’s effort still stands out as the most impressive in a road race. Even Marco Pantani’s Flumserberg effort in the 1995 Tour de Suisse is not looking as impressive anymore as it was after an easier day and was not high in the mountains. That being said, 7.34 ᵉW/Kg for 23:30 min is impressive for any rider. Previously Vingegaard, Evenepoel and Pogačar had one effort above or really close to the pink All Time Top 40 trendline. Evenepoel in the 2023 Volta a Catalunya in perfect conditions with fresh legs did 6.90 ᵉW/Kg for 24 minutes and Jonas Vingegaard at low altitude in the 2023 Basque Country distanced everyone with 7.44 ᵉW/Kg for 11:21 ᵉW/Kg. Pogačar now is the only rider in history to do such an effort on two back-to-back days.

Pogačar improved his gap in the GC and now is 3 minutes and 9 seconds ahead of Vingegaard, making him very hard to beat in the third week. Remco Evenepoel is more than 5 minutes ahead of Joao Almeida and has a good chance to finish on the podium in his debut Tour, where he has performed better than ever.

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22-year-old Australian climber Neve Bradbury won the mighty Blockhaus finish in one of the toughest mountain stages possible in the modern era of women’s cycling, beating Elisa Longo Borghini and Lotte Kopecky in the Giro d’Italia Women stage 7.

The Queen stage featured Passo Lanciano (11.2 km, 8.6%) and Blockhaus (16.05 km, 8.07%) from a different side than usual. Passo Lanciano was the exact climb as the final Blockhaus climb, but the riders did not go up the final 5 kilometres in the first ascent.

The GC group was small when it reached the final climb, as the peloton did Passo Lanciano in 44:42 min, averaging 4.40 ᵉW/Kg. Neve Bradbury spent 2,095 kilojoules for 3:17h at 12,77 kj/kg/h. That is a very hard tempo before the final climb, which is why the GC group was small and there were huge gaps on the climb. Gaia Realini paced the first 5 kilometres of the climb for her teammate and the race leader Elisa Longo Borghini, shredding the group. Bradbury attacked with 10.6 km to go but got brought back but no one could follow her second acceleration with 9.3 km to go. The UAE Tour GC winner Lotte Kopecky was only 3 seconds behind Longo Borghini in the GC and was drafting for the whole climb behind the Italian. It was hot weather and Kopecky tried to cool down on a climb with multiple water bottles.

Bradbury was too strong to be caught, and she won the stage with a strong effort. The young Australian recently won her first WorldTour race in Tour de Suisse and here averaged 4.79 ᵉW/Kg for 57:50 min. That an exceptional performance for an U23 eligible rider, and that is not far from Annemiek van Vleuten’s greatest climbing efforts. As the stage was really hard and hot, this performance might be even more impressive than the final w/kg numbers seem in isolation. Bradbury is in her last contract year with Canyon//SRAM Racing and is one of the greatest climbing talents in the women’s peloton with podium finishes in Tour Down Under, UAE Tour, Tour de Suisse and Giro d’Italia. Bradbury finished third in the GC as she lost 1:47 min to Longo Borghini in the opening time-trial.

Longo Borghini could not drop Kopecky and lost to her in the final 300-metre sprint, finishing at the same time and keeping her lead by a single second. Longo Borghini pushed 4.71 ᵉW/Kg for 58:34 min, while Kopecky did 4.67 ᵉW/Kg. Pauliena Rooijakkers was dropped multiple times after Longo Borghini accelerations but caught her and Kopecky multiple times, averaging 4.68 ᵉW/Kg for 58:57 min.

The gaps were huge as the 9th place finisher Mareille Meijering lost 4:20 min to Bradbury, while Erica Magnaldi lost 8:20 min with 14th place. In Stage 8 Longo Borghini defended her lead and beat Kopecky by 20 seconds. The Lidl-Trek star won her first Giro d’Italia and was the first Italian winner since Fabiana Luperini in 2008.

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