"He showed everyone who's the boss" - Valentin Paret-Peintre applauds Pogacar's phenomenal ride
CyclingFriday, 10 July 2026 at 01:00
Tadej Pogacar stole the show on Col du Tourmalet. The Slovenian claimed the Souvenir Jacques Goddet prize for himself with a relatively modest lead over his rivals, but continued to push on in descent and towards Gavarnie-Gèdre to finish with two and a half minutes of lead to seemingly seal the general classification. At least for the first racing block.
His UAE Team Emirates - XRG colleagues made sure there was no dangerous breakaway up the road during the run-in to Col d'Aspin, and then blew up the race on Tourmalet. Already at the foot of the Pyrenean mountain pass, there was a very reduced group in the contention.
Even strong climbers such as Valentin Paret-Peintre have quickly given up. As it became apparent there was no hope left for them in face of Pogacar's imminent offensive.
"On the Tourmalet, I really took it easy right from the start," Paret-Peintre admitted his deliberate decision at the finish. "Anyway, it was obvious that Pogacar was going to attack. So I wasn't going to be able to follow him or be in the top 10 at the summit. So I just took it easy on the Tourmalet until the finish."
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The stage finished for the young Frenchman there, as he cruised to the finish line in company of fellow compatriot Joris Delbove in a 53rd position, more than half an hour behind the Slovenian phenomenon.
Speaking about Pogacar's performance, he said: "It's incredible. The work of his team is incredible. From the start, it was really difficult. They managed to hold the peloton together, so hats off to them. He's really on another level, and today, I think he showed who's boss."
For Paret-Peintre, the next few days will be rather uneventful, with a long shot from a breakaway on stage 9, but a much better opportunity in a notably more challenging medium mountain stage 10 from Aurillac to Le Lioran with nearly 4.000 meters of climbing.
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses 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.
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- Relax, it's a joke at the mistake of the editor. I copied the text from the article. They made the same mistake again.
KerisVroom10-07-2026 - Visma's Marc Reef gave an interesting impromptu interview to IDL. In his view, what had happened was that UAE had (finally) learnt from all their mistakes of the past few years and had ridden smart. Remember, Reef is still new in the job, and may come up with some better strategies for later in the Tour. Another factor forcUAE is that this was a rare day in the first two weeks where the temperature allowed Pog to put in a big attack.Hills3310-07-2026
- What? He left uae relieved to get out of there, he got himself isolated... i don't his heart is there! Maybe he regrets his behaviour back then but he seems the type of guy that would blame others than himself. Not a fan of Ayuso, but wish him all the best, he's a pretty good rider. he's trying to stand out in Lidltrek but let's see if he can hold top 5 till the end.Lobz7710-07-2026
- His assessment is not quite true. If they worked together, they could at least still fight for 2nd place. Jonas was losing time to them on the final climb. I have to agree with Remco on this matter.KerisVroom10-07-2026
- We'll see, still 15 stages to go, lot can happen.Lobz7710-07-2026
- This is devastating on 2 fronts: 1. The gap between him and Tadej is bigger than yesteryears. 2. Team UAE is much stronger than Visma. Jonas was left with one domestique, while UAE still had a train on the penultimate climb. It's hard to outsmart UAE tactically when your team is weaker.KerisVroom10-07-2026
- UAE finished the day with Pogacar in yellow, Del Toro third overall and Juan Ayuso fifth. You can take Ayuso out of UAE, but his heart still belongs to UAE. 😝KerisVroom10-07-2026
- I really wish UAE weren’t being so greedy with everything so quickly. This Tour is going to be dull as dishwater at this rate. Everyone cooked from the heat, old mate winning every other stage - pretty boring to watch.antipodeanpedalfan10-07-2026
- indicates he doesn't have the mental strength to win le tour - possibly any other GT. ITs a long race, and Lipo knows that Remco will never hang in the high mountains in week 3 - why burn all the matches now?Crashjames09-07-2026
- A concussion and broken ribs! Well done road side doctor.Pedalmasher09-07-2026
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