Tour de France 2021 - Tadej Pogacar launches massive attack on yellow jersey as Mathieu van der Poel cracks
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Updated 03/07/2021 at 19:53 GMT
We all knew it was coming but even when it did it was still hugely impressive. Defending champion Tadej Pogacar launched a hugely aggressive attack on Stage 8 of the Tour de France that put him in pole position to go back into yellow. You can watch the Tour de France live and ad-free on the Eurosport app and Eurosport.co.uk.
'Here he goes!' - Pogacar attacks away from peloton
Mathieu van der Poel’s spell in yellow came to an end on Saturday afternoon as he lost ground on the Colombiere on Stage 8 of theB Tour de France.
The hugely exciting young Dutchman had been leading the race but it was suspected that the stage with the first category climbs might see him lose his yellow jersey and that has proven to be the case.
With a little under 35km to go UAE Team Emirates began to make their move as Davide Formolo started to up the tempo with Team Ineos and Richie Porte then taking over.
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'Spoke too soon!' - Van der Poel cracks on Stage 8 climb
A few kilometres later the two principals took over as Tadej Pogacar and Richard Carapaz both took off and attacked away from the peloton.
The pair looked to put a big gap between themselves and the rest of the chasing pack, with Carapaz picking up the slack for Ineos following a catastrophic start to the stage for Geraint Thomas.
With Wout van Aert in virtual lead of the race Pogacar quickly set about putting as much time into his rivals as he could, leaving Carapaz in his wake.
Brian Smith was effusive in his praise of Pogacar on commentary. "Wow what a performance here. We did ask the question 'is UAE strong enough?' no, is Pogacar strong enough? Out of this world!"
Here iis how Nick Christian called it on the live text commentary.
28KM TO GO: POGACAR REELS RIDERS IN AT WILL
Søren Kragh Andersen can only look on in amazement as Tadej Pogacar passes him with ease. Michael Woods is almost four minutes further up the road, but there’s a lot of climbing still to go today. Don’t put it past Pogacar to not only take the yellow jersey but the stage as well. "This is looking like a frightening performance," says Carlton Kirby.
30.5KM TO GO: POGACAR ATTACKS
Yes, is the answer. His UAE Emirates team-mate, Davide Formolo, can offer no more in front of his leader. The Italian grimaces for one last time, pulls to the side, and the Slovenian makes his move. The only rider able to follow him is Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) but the Ecuador rider can't stay with the reigning champion for long.
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