1000 days have passed since one of the most iconic Tour de
France stages of the modern era. On July 13th, 2022, Stage 11 of the Tour de
France ripped through the Col du Télégraphe and the Col du Galibier before
finishing atop the monstrous Col du Granon.
It was a day of pure carnage in the Alps, a day that marked
a changing of the guard. For the first time, Tadej Pogacar cracked.
And badly too.
The Slovenian prodigy, who had seemed untouchable in his
back-to-back Tour de France victories, finally looked mortal. The man who broke
him? Jonas Vingegaard, powered by a historic team performance from Jumbo-Visma,
now known as Team Visma | Lease a Bike.
That day now lives in cycling folklore, and any fan will
remember where they were watching that race. Not just because Pogacar lost
yellow, but because of the sheer tactical and physical domination by his rivals,
and the way in which he fell off the cliff.
It was a masterclass in strategy, and brutal climbing power,
one that reshaped the dynamics of modern Grand Tour racing and gave Vingegaard
the platform to become a two-time Tour winner.
Let’s review that fateful day in the summer of 2022.
Stage 11
The 151.7km route from Albertville to the summit of the Col
du Granon was always going to be pivotal, but no one could have predicted the
brutality of what unfolded.
Jumbo-Visma, knowing they had to unseat Pogacar, launched
their plan early. Primoz Roglic, despite being bruised from previous crashes,
went on the offensive from the Col du Télégraphe. Attacking relentlessly, he
forced Pogacar to chase again, again and again.
By the time the riders hit the Galibier, Pogacar had been
isolated, and UAE Team Emirates, weakened by illness and crashes, simply didn’t
have the numbers. Jonas Vingegaard remained calm, while Pogacar had burned
matches trying to mark every move. Wout van Aert had also played his part
earlier, dropping back from the break to pace Roglic and push the tempo.
At the summit of the Galibier, Pogacar still looked strong.
He even attacked, but was this simply to mask to his rivals that for the first
time, the fuel tank was going red?
The damage had already been done. The elastic was stretched.
The Granon
Then came the Col du Granon. A rarely-used monster climb,
the Granon had only once before appeared in the Tour, in 1986, when Eduardo
Chozas of Spani won the stage. The narrow road twists upward with long, exposed
ramps, and as the air thinned, so did Pogacar’s resistance.
With 4.5km to go, Vingegaard made his move. Pogacar tried to
follow. For a few pedal strokes, it seemed he might. But then, the unthinkable:
he sat down. His face twisted in pain. He had cracked. Hard.
It wasn’t just a few seconds lost, it was 2:51 minutes.
Pogacar rode in agony as one by one, GC contenders passed him: Geraint Thomas,
David Gaudu, Nairo Quintana. The yellow jersey was slipping away, and there was
nothing he could do. Vingegaard surged to victory, and with it, into the
maillot jaune for the first time in his career.
He would not relinquish it again.
Beating the King
Until that moment, Pogacar had appeared untouchable in Grand
Tours. He had won the 2020 Tour in miraculous fashion with his time trial on La
Planche des Belles Filles, and in 2021, he dominated from start to finish. He
attacked whenever he wanted, often gaining time in unexpected places.
But on Stage 11 in 2022, he showed vulnerability, and try as
he might he could not overcome Visma that year.
It also marked a turning point. Vingegaard had shown he
could not only match Pogacar but beat him. And Jumbo-Visma had shown that a
united, all-in team effort could take down cycling’s golden boy.
Much of the credit went to Jumbo-Visma’s strategic
brilliance, and the use of Roglic to force Pogacar into repeated chases was
key. So was the depth of their squad. Sepp Kuss played the perfect mountain
domestique, pacing Vingegaard when it mattered. Wout van Aert had already won a
sprint stage and the green jersey by that point but sacrificed his own chances
to help break Pogacar’s rhythm earlier in the day.
It was a day where everything clicked for the Dutch squad,
and everything fell apart for UAE Team Emirates.
The story since
Pogacar, to his credit, didn’t give up. He clawed back time
with a stage win on Peyragudes and another dominant victory on Hautacam. But
Vingegaard never faltered again. He sealed the Tour with a majestic ride on the
final mountain stage and a mature, measured time trial.
In 2023, Vingegaard destroyed Pogacar in the third week of
the Tour and the duo were tied on two yellow jersey’s each. Of course, in 2024,
Pogacar turned the tides with the greatest cycling season we have ever seen, as
he reclaimed his throne.
Just this past weekend, Pogacar destroyed a field of
classics legends to win the Tour of Flanders for a second time. Next weekend, he’ll
head to Paris-Roubaix in search of another monument win, before turning his
attention once again to the Tour this summer.
Right now, the world champion is the favourite to win just
about every race he starts this seaso
But remember, before stage 11 of the 2022 Tour, Pogacar was
deemed unbeatable. Many respected experts believed he would win every Tour for
year’s to come, until Vingegaard and Visma ripped up the script.
1000 days later, Stage 11 of the 2022 Tour remains the
benchmark. It was the day a new rivalry was born. The day Pogacar cracked. And
the day Vingegaard rose.
As cycling fans count the days to the next Tour, that one
alpine stage continues to echo through the sport. It wasn’t just about losing
yellow, it was the realisation that even the greats are human, and sometimes,
even the strongest legs can falter.
We will certainly never forget what was one of the greatest
stages of the Tour de France in history.
Fin MajorCycling Journalist
Fin Major is a UK-based writer at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2024. He is the site’s main writer for FAQs and evergreen explainers and has written around 2,000 pieces for the platform. Alongside this work, he focuses on in-depth analysis and covers the biggest races on the calendar, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, providing clear context around performance trends, tactics, and key storylines.
In his reporting, Fin uses reputable data sources such as ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available. Outside of writing, Fin is an active cyclist, which supports his practical understanding of the sport and its demands.
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- You can clearly see the the posture change from slightly sitting to again out of the saddle while changing of gears in the video of the sprintabstractengineer08-11-2026
- He has already beaten Pogi twice in the TDF. the achievement is over. He cannot beat Pogi now and he only has a few years left at the top. Win Giro and compete in the TDF, maximise palmares.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- Just looked again at the photo. Yeah I stand by that. If MS had fallen over in Brands direction I don’t even think she would have hit her. You must be a UCI race commissioner. I’ll be sure to check my sock height should I ever see you on a ride. Looks like everyone else on here sees what I see.mij08-11-2026
- I said looking at the photo it doesn’t appear she deviated. Chill out, not stating my word is the final judgement. Just commenting that based on the photo I don’t see it. And BTW the Dutch coach even said she didn’t impede her.mij08-11-2026
- Blah Blah Blah !frieders308-11-2026
- MS said she was changing gears so that caused her slight deviation. Nothing was intentional.frieders308-11-2026
- How can you use a photo post incident to judge the incident itself (which is not hard to find if you’re prepared to invest the same amount of time in searching as writing that comment? It’s harsh but technically right even though this or worse is not always sanctioned in every race. The two things that went against MS (who unfortunately for her would still have won without making her mistake) are that it was not a bunch sprint where there could have been an overlooked incident or mitigating circumstances explaining a deviation. Everything was focused on just those 2, Schreiber was riding beautifully balanced which made her sudden deviation look unnatural stroke as if it could have been in some part intentional whilst she was slowly drifting ever closer towards the barrier to a point that would have reached obstruction level. In her defence, it might have been the realisation she was heading towards that that made her react suddenly and caused the deviation involuntarily. In any case, congratulations to her for the ride of her life, in people’s minds she will be credited for it.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Good boy Obviously doesn’t need that much help dealing with pressure, as some have suggested. Wiser (and humbler) than many far further along their careers. About offering him the moon, recently someone came up with an explanation of the downfall of a football great (either referring to Maradona or Portuguese Ronaldo) saying it was kind of normal after coming back from the moon, except that others, including some who actually did go to the moon like Armstrong (Neil in case anyone is too switched off to realise) didn’t go through any of the same motions after coming back. A lot of how you deal with situations has less to do with the situation than with your character.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- I think that they're not really used to dealing with this type of incident in a cyclocross race, and the situation has been magnified because it was a race for a championship title. It's very unfortunate that the race had to be decided in this way.
santiagobenites07-11-2026 - Seriously why do they keep doing stupid things like this. Its one thing to relegate when the placings are minor, when the action is blatant. But when it is ambiguous, why dont they at least take advice from some higher up to avoid embarrassing themselves. This is similar to the Halland goal when his teammate was clearly offside and interfered in play and VAR gave them the goal. if you dont have evidence you cannot convict. Even for doping they have these rulesabstractengineer07-11-2026
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