“Tadej Pogacar just destroyed everyone in this race” – Chris Froome stunned by record-breaking Alpe d’Huez demolition
Cycling
Chris Froome hailed Tadej Pogacar’s Alpe d’Huez victory as “nothing short of remarkable” after the Tour de France leader erased a deficit of more than three minutes and produced the fastest reported ascent of the legendary climb.
Pogacar attacked with around 11 kilometres remaining, caught the survivors of the breakaway inside the closing two kilometres and dropped Richard Carapaz and Lenny Martinez beneath the flamme rouge. His reported climbing time of 35:27 bettered Marco Pantani’s long-standing 1997 benchmark by more than a minute.
“That’s a pretty epic climb we just watched there,” Froome said on TNT Sports’ The Breakaway. “What Tadej just did there was pretty special. All the viewers can be pretty happy they witnessed that because that was a record-setting time up there.”
Exact Alpe d’Huez comparisons can vary slightly according to the timing points used, but Pogacar’s performance comfortably surpassed the benchmark most commonly attached to Pantani’s 1997 ascent.
Froome watches Pogacar wipe out three-minute deficit
A 42-rider move had built a substantial advantage before the final climb, leaving Carapaz, Martinez, Sepp Kuss and Thymen Arensman among those still in contention for the stage.
The gap remained above three minutes when Pogacar made his move. Adam Yates briefly contributed after dropping back from the breakaway, but the yellow jersey completed most of the pursuit alone as the leaders began attacking one another further up the mountain.
Carapaz repeatedly tried to dislodge Martinez and Kuss, yet none could establish the separation required to resist Pogacar’s approach. Arensman was caught with seven kilometres remaining before the gap to the front collapsed through the final bends.
“It really looked as if the breakaway was going to get it there with Carapaz and Kuss leading the way,” Froome said. “But Tadej Pogacar just destroyed everyone in this race. What he did there was nothing short of remarkable.”
Froome won the Tour de France four times and built his success around some of the defining mountain performances of the previous era. Pogacar’s ride still left him describing the stage as something viewers should feel fortunate to have witnessed.
The Slovenian became only the second rider after Geraint Thomas to win on Alpe d’Huez while wearing the yellow jersey. Unlike Thomas in 2018, Pogacar reached the foot of the climb with the stage apparently belonging to the breakaway before hunting down every rider ahead of him.
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Fifth Tour victory within reach
Pogacar’s fifth stage victory of this Tour extended his general classification lead over Remco Evenepoel to 7:11. With only one final mountain stage and the Paris finale remaining, he is closing in on a record-equalling fifth overall victory.
Froome also raised the prospect of Pogacar targeting the Vuelta a Espana, the only Grand Tour missing from his palmares.
“Who knows how much longer he’s going to be going on?” he said. “No doubt he’ll be taking on the Vuelta next as well, because that’s the only big goal missing from his archive really.”
That question belongs beyond the Tour. Pogacar still has one final Alpine stage to negotiate, while UAE Team Emirates – XRG are also defending Isaac del Toro’s narrow advantage over Paul Seixas in the fight for third place and the white jersey.
Whatever follows, Alpe d’Huez has supplied the signature image of Pogacar’s 2026 Tour: the yellow jersey attacking with the breakaway more than three minutes ahead, swallowing the entire move and leaving one of the race’s greatest champions astonished by what he had seen.
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- 18 broken bones. 78 crashes, among 30 rider per year is a lot. so for a rider over 15 seasons, they will break their bones 7-8 times and crash 38 times.abstractengineer04-11-2026
- i dont think he is ready ot win against the top 2 or the 2nd rung of evenepoel, del toro , Almeida. In the third week in the TDF he was very very defensive, no attacks. i think he was exhausted. right now he needs time not the brutal Giro or the intense TDF.abstractengineer04-11-2026
- Rota is an excellent rider to get in a break with because he always does his turnchapmanesque04-11-2026
- That 3000 extra that the Tour de France is built up in the flat stages
Rafionain-Glas04-11-2026 - maybe this is something else they can protest in the streets of France.mij04-11-2026
- his Roubaix win was amazing. not to take anything away from him - arguably one of MVDP's wins was at the expense of a WVA flat - but so many things need to line up to get one of these. He had a perfect race with fewer bike issues on an attritional course. And crazy strong as usual. Glad he got this done.mij04-11-2026
- Orts was a super smart signing with the new rules regarding cross and UCI pointsmij04-11-2026
- yeah... you're right...PogiSloFans04-11-2026
- Podcast sounds great. Two so called experts stating the f*cking obvious.wrsty04-11-2026
- A mindset that reminds me of Tim Declerq. I loved watching that guy just pound away the kilometers, hours at the front, holding an entire breakaway in check on his own. Bjerg seems like a similar guy. Curling, the team sport.RidesHills04-11-2026
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