For Tadej and his UAE Team Emirates – XRG team, one of the key tests of the 112th Tour, the queen 18th stage with a finish on Col de la Loze, is behind them. Tadej did not celebrate the victory, which was claimed by Ben O’Connor (Jayco Alula), but with 2nd place, he increased his lead in the overall standings. He wears the yellow jersey three stages before the end with a lead of 4:26 over Jonas Vingegaard.
His team Visma Lease a Bike accelerated strongly on the second climb of the day on Col de la Madeleine, and then Vingegaard attacked 72 kilometers before the finish. Tadej followed him, and together they joined the breakaway group. But this group fell apart before the final climb on Col de la Loze, and Tadej and Jonas waited for the chasing group, which also included their teammates.
First, the pace was set by the riders of Visma Lease a Bike, and then Tadej’s helpers took the initiative. They had the situation under control until Vingegaard’s attack just under two kilometers before the finish. Tadej followed him effortlessly, then accelerated strongly in the last kilometer, gaining 11 seconds on the 28-year-old Dane.
»To be honest, I wanted the stage win, but the priority was the yellow jersey. When Visma attacked on Col de la Madeleine, I told myself that we could still go for the win. But perhaps they pushed to hard, and the descent was also very fast. The group was small, they attacked each other, and there was no more cooperation in the front on the flat section. I waited for my teammates, it took a long time for them to return. When Visma started setting the pace at the beginning of the Col de la Loze climb, I also expected it to go faster and that they would catch the breakaway. But Ben was incredibly strong all day and on the last climb. He did exceptionally well. I missed the stage win, but I’m happy that I had good legs on the Col de la Loze and that I’m in the yellow jersey,« said Tadej.
He agreed with Vingegaard’s words that the fight for the yellow jersey is not over yet. »The Tour is not over yet, we have three more days to go. Tomorrow I will give it my all and then the next and the next day to keep my lead. Everything was under control, we did an excellent job with the team. They tried everything on the climb to Col de la Madaleine, I was there without any problems. Then came the Col de la Loze, which is already difficult to climb anyway. I had exceptional support from Jhony Narvaez, Marc Soler, and Adam Yates, the whole team did great. In the end, it wasn’t too stressful, and I had good legs. I hope it will be the same tomorrow, as Visma will probably try again,« continued Tadej.
Tomorrow he faces the 19th stage, in which the peloton will have to overcome five categorized climbs and 4,450 meters of elevation over 129.9 kilometers. The scene of the last Alpine battle will be the climb to La Plagne (19.1 km, 7.2% average gradient). »It was a queen stage today, tomorrow is another one. Let’s go for it, we’ll see how it goes. There are three more stages left and then we can go on vacation,« Tadej added.