"A minute is good" - Tadej Pogacar happy with dominance over Jonas Vingegaard in first climbing duel of 2025

Tadej Pogacar has showed one of his greatest performances of the year this afternoon by beating Jonas Vingegaard by a full minute in Combloux - the climb where the Dane virtually sealed his 2023 Tour de France victory over the Slovenia. With this, he is now in control of the Criterium du Duaphiné.

"We had our own plan, but Visma immediately started going full throttle on the first category climb. Before the start I didn't know much about that climb (the Côte the Domancy, ed.), but I have definitely done it before. It brought back memories of good times".

Visma tested UAE on the penultimate climb and definitely looked to have some effect, but with such steep gradients and such a strong Pogacar, it was impossible to go far. And on the final climb, a terrifying uphill leadout from his teammates led to a spotless attack.

"The team was really good today. Pavel [Sivakov] and Johnny [Narváez] were really incredible today. Actually, the whole team was really strong today. I felt good, so we were going to go for it from the beginning of the final climb, on the steepest part. We had nothing to lose and only something to gain," he explains.

What happened was that he dropped Jonas Vingegaard - the rest of Pogacar's rivals had already been dropped mostly by the long stint in the front from Narváez. "I felt really good. When I attacked, it was an all-out effort. I knew it would be fifteen minutes from the Côte de Domancy to the top. So I had to watch my speed a bit after my attack, but the feeling was there and my legs were working well. It was to my advantage to be in front and gain time. A minute is good and I am very happy with that".

The World Champion didn't crack and continued to build his gap all the way into the very summit. 1 minute and 1 second to Vingegaard - plus bonifications - see him climb back into the yellow jersey, now 43 seconda ahead of his main rival.

The questions over form are also cleared after a modest time-trial. "That was certainly a concern, because I certainly care where I lose time in a time-trial. It is a challenge for me and for the team to improve in that. Still, the form is good and the legs are there too, so we have to hold on to the horses for the Tour".

"At the end of the day, it is what it is. It was a very tough and especially very hot day. Also, I had to hurry to see Urska's [Zigart] finish in the Tour de Suisse, so I was just in time", he joked.