Tadej and his team, UAE Team Emirates – XRG, saved the best for the final days of the 113th Tour. After a few extremely tough days due to health issues, Tadej claimed an epic victory for his teammates in Stage 19, finishing atop Alpe d’Huez.
Even before he went into the fight for the win, his teammates had to set the pace in the peloton so that a large breakaway group wouldn’t ride away to an uncatchable advantage. At the foot of the final climb, it still amounted to three and a half minutes. Tadej found himself facing a very demanding task: he had to make up that deficit over the 13.8 kilometers to the summit against excellent climbers Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious), Sepp Kuss (Visma Lease a Bike), and Richard Carapaz (EF Education Easy Post).
That’s why he accelerated already in the opening kilometers of the climb. His rivals in the battle for the top of the overall standings couldn’t follow him, and Tadej kept getting closer to the breakaway riders, who, in the fight for the stage win, were attacking each other. Fortunately, among the breakaway riders earlier was also Tadej’s teammate Adam Yates, who helped him cut through the wind for a few kilometers.
Then Tadej continued alone through a sea of fans and closed all the way up to the breakaway riders three kilometers before the finish. But his rivals didn’t give in—Carapaz attacked once again, and Tadej, with Martinez also following, caught him 1.7 kilometers below the summit. Then came Tadej’s accelerations, about 750 meters before the finish he shook off the last two chasers and celebrated an exceptional victory.
»It’s extremely cool to win here. The atmosphere was crazy all the way up the climb, thanks to the whole team that I was able to win in the end. I raced for my teammates, I’m extremely happy with this win,« said Tadej after his fifth stage win at this year’s Tour and his 26th overall.
»The breakaway riders were extremely strong, so we went full gas all day. In the first kilometer of Alpe d’Huez I felt I had good legs, I knew there weren’t many guys left who could follow me or try to go with me. So I tried and went on with full commitment to the top. Mid-climb I still had Adam. That gave me a morale boost, I’m very happy that he came back after a tough day in the time trial. I was very happy that I rode for a few kilometers behind him on the climb. In the end I had a battle with exceptionally good riders, but they played a bit with each other, which helped me catch them and win the stage,« Tadej described the path to victory.
For the ascent of Alpe d’Huez he needed 35:26, so he improved on Marco Pantani’s record from 1995 (36:50). »I don’t know what Pantani’s time was, I haven’t been on the internet at all in recent weeks, I don’t put much stock in that. I heard that I improved the record, I’m happy about that. But I wanted to above all race well and win for the guys. Improving a record that’s more than 30 years old is also good for us,« Tadej continued.
With this outstanding performance, he also significantly increased his lead in the overall standings. First among his rivals to roll across the finish was Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe), who was 2:29 back, and in 2nd place overall he now trails by 7:11. In 3rd place remains Tadej’s teammate Isaac del Toro, 9:42 behind. But today the Mexican increased his advantage over Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) by four seconds in the battle for the white jersey for best young rider and for an eventual 3rd place in Paris.
»We won; we’ll see what happens tomorrow. We’ll go at our own pace, stick to our plan. We won’t look at other things; we’ll do what we do every day. As a team we’ll stay together and give it everything; we’ll see what happens,« Tadej said ahead of tomorrow’s queen stage.
It will be a test with 5,450 meters of elevation gain and another finish on Alpe d’Huez. There, it seems, he won’t be chasing another win. »The good news is that Isaac increased his lead over Seixas. This time was my chance to win, but now we have to make sure Isaac keeps that nice jersey and a spot on the winners’ podium,« Tadej added.