Alpe d'Huez, a climb that has seen so much drama over the years.
For the next two days it will be cycling's epicentre.
The fans are ready and from a British perspective,
the last two stages to finish atop this mighty Alpe
have been won by two Brits.
Geraint Thomas moves to the right in the yellow jersey.
So much road to be ridden.
Alpe d'Huez is about to see a brand new winner.
But who is it going to be?
500m to go. Mikel Landa launches an attack.
Who's being followed by Geraint Thomas. It's Geraint Thomas
on the left hand side going for it. Gareth Thomas in the yellow jersey.
The Welsh are cheering Geraint Thomas to win on Alpe d'Huez.
I don't know what to say.
Tom Pidcock really pushing things. Here's a demon to send.
It's only 10.5km to go for them, so a little bit of cat and mouse
and Tom Pidcock is the man who accelerates.
They cheer, they scream, they will on the young man from Yorkshire.
And Tom Pidcock is absolutely flying.
Tremendous technique, wonderfully ridden on the defence.
Away down the Galibier, Thomas Pidcock sees the finish line.
A shake of the head.
But he better believe it, because the tour de France blasts off
to planet Pidcock on Alpe d'Huez Stage win.
My first tour.
Yeah, it's not bad.
Well, first of all, Alpe d'Huez must bring back some fun memories.
Yeah, very, very fond memories, I think.
Uh, yeah, it was, uh, obviously very special day for me,
my career. But I think maybe after today,
there will be some slightly different memories in my in my head.
Because it's going to be a completely different race.
Yeah, it will be a different race for sure.
I think today I think there might be some other some back wheels in front
of me that I'm looking at instead. We'll see how the race goes,
but I'm pretty sure, you know, today could be a GC battle up there
and it's going to be, uh, very fast and yeah,
see, see, see what I can do there.
21 that's the number of hairpins that will greet the riders
when they reach one of the most iconic climbs in cycling.
That's not all that's on the menu today. The route starts in gap
and the riders must first contend with three categorised climbs over
114km before they reach the foot of the final ascent.
Going into an epic two days, this is
how the General classification stacks up.
Tadej Pogacar wears the Myzone. He leads the race
by four minutes and 32 seconds ahead of Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe rider
Remco Evenepoel Pogacar Team-mate Isaac Del Toro sits in third,
but he's just 20s ahead of fourth place,
which is occupied by his rival for
the white Young Riders Jersey and the French great hope.
Paul Seixas. Yeah.
Uh, I think, uh, my brother is up there
and he said the crowds are insane.
But also the crowds on March 9th was insane.
So, I mean, yeah, just I think every year is even more spectators.
So yeah, it's nice to see. I'm feeling pretty excited.
And, uh, yeah, this is the next two days
are actually the days why we've been working so hard.
So, uh, yeah, we'll see how it goes. But, uh, pretty exciting day today.
There's not one day more important than the other.
Uh, no, both are super important
and both will be decisive for the, for the GC result.
Uh, so yeah, two big days, uh,
and both days, uh, very important.
So nothing to lose. Uh, I mean, no, actually a lot to lose.
So we have to, uh, to be focussed on the, on that second place.
And, uh, yeah, it would be amazing for myself and
for the team to, to finish it off like this.
The climbing started from the flag drop on stage 19.
Not long after a group of four got away.
They were soon joined by a larger group of riders,
including stage 18 winner Richard Carapaz.
Frenchman Valentin Paret Peintre and Green jersey wearer Mads Pedersen.
The F and Soudal rider battled over the first KOM,
and it was the latter who came out victorious,
taking the maximum points and with it the virtual lead
in the King of the mountains classification.
One rider who had managed to get into the front group was Adam Yates.
After days of struggling with illness,
it seemed he'd shaken it off in time for two of the most crucial stages
of the race behind UAE Team Emirates XR Gee were controlling the pace,
allowing the gap to stretch to more than two minutes.
On the category one, Col du Noyer F set a blistering pace,
but it wasn't enough to dispatch Paret Peintre,
with the Soudal rider taking the maximum points there too.
On the Long Valley Road, the gap to the large lead group
of more than 40 riders remained steady at around 3.5 minutes.
UAE Team Emirates XRG and Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe
were doing most of the work in the peloton,
but back out front, Pedersen took the maximum points uncontested
at the intermediate sprint that put his total on 502,
giving him a lead of 57 over Jasper Philipsen.
He's now taken a remarkable 333 points
at the intermediate sprints alone, 78% of the total points available.
Okay, ladies and gentlemen, we are approaching Alpe d'Huez,
the most famous climb in all the tour de France,
and we have had an amazing build up to this.
We've got the yellow jersey in the peloton behind.
There's been a group of over 40 riders gone up the road
at the start of the stage. That has now reduced significantly.
We've got Bora Red bull chasing behind with UAE,
and we've got Lidl Trek after Mads Pedersen took
the green jersey points, he's dropped back to the peloton now,
helping his team-mate, Juan Ayuso,
to jump up that leaderboard on the general classification.
This is going to be one heck of a day.
I'm excited.
Get me on to that climb. Get me into that atmosphere.
I'm going to be following the big guys and getting as close as I can
to the action, but this is one you do not want to miss.
Incredible, incredible climb with an incredible race behind me
about to explode on the Alpe d'Huez.
Well, wherever you're watching, whatever you're doing,
make sure there are no distractions for the next 40 minutes.
Climbing record depends on where you take it from,
but it all goes back to Marco Pantani.
3735 for the 14.5 Kuss where we've just seen the road rise.
When we get to the modern start of the climb.
13.8 from the finish, you're looking at 36 minutes,
55 seconds that has stood since the 90s.
Will it go today, a couple of hundred metres
up the road there is Bruno Armirail.
He leads 15 contenders onto the slopes of the most famous
of tall mountains. It was the first ever summit finish.
The most famous hairpin bends await the riders of the tour.
All 21 of them fans are spread all out over the mountain.
A wall of sound will greet their every pedal stroke now.
The usual mountain arrival atmosphere is turned up to ten
and beyond. This, for some, will be the experience of a lifetime.
A good number are about to suffer more than in several lifetimes,
but the glory of victory will live on
for a place on the roll of honour.
It's Alpe d'Huez time at the tour de France
and already the first victim has been claimed.
It's Tiesj Benoot going backwards. Mattia Cattaneo as well.
But these guys might have a job to do further up.
Yes, this could be a tactic that they're going to use these riders.
And you know, there's no point in hanging in here
for a number of kilometres because you wish riders that are, you know,
much more talented than this sort of finish.
So, you know, knock it off early, get a little bit of respite
and wait for your leader to come and then do what you can.
And yeah, just pull that group along.
But we can see here, Admiral, what a ride he's doing here today.
And you can see Sepp Kuss there. The pressure is on him now
because they have really invested from Visma Lease a Bike
in this stage and a number of others as well.
As we can see, they're all just, uh. Yeah, getting ready.
And this is the most difficult part when you come to this part,
it just goes straight up and really steep gradient 11%.
You want to get into the rhythm as well. So it's difficult.
And we can see there's a little bit of knocking off in the pace here.
And that's what you need.
Some riders, they just want to get back into the rhythm
of the steep gradient again. It's horribly steep.
The first three ramps, separated by those hairpins of Alpe d'Huez
are absolutely the steepest and toughest parts.
And it's, a. Even if you've been doing other climbs during the day,
it is a change of rhythm to come on to gradients.
This steep hits you right in the face,
right from the bottom as Afonso was just struggling at the back there.
Frenchman just off the back. Here he is.
Remember French winners on this mountain,
Pierre Rolland, Christophe Riblon and Thibaut Pinot.
But he won't be here.
I don't think to add his name to the list.
Tejada also just struggling at the back, losing a couple
of lengths there as well.
What a brilliant ride from Bruno Bruno Armirail,
who crashed stage three, was almost out of the race,
struggled on, hung in there, fought for his tour life and
now he's back at the front of the race and trying to set up
his team mate Sepp Kuss, who is a man who flies under the radar.
He's quiet, he's unassuming, but he gets the job done so often
in the big moments, especially when the team really needs him.
That is.
Armirail.
We are at bend 21.
Count them down from here on in.
Super job from him. And it is.
Well, I think now just under two kilometres of a lead
for this group on the group about to start the climb.
This gap can be a winning gap, but you've got to go bottom to top
and Arensman is Wright amongst ITT Lenny Martinez on him.
Sepp Kuss took his time but rode across O Tom Pidcock.
He's lost a few lengths and starting to drop away from
the favourites group Tom Pidcock, who began the day
in eighth position in the general classification.
Going to have to make his way up. Going to have to watch those gaps.
Not over, of course, with the top ten.
There are some big gaps many minutes down there,
but with Martinez getting up the road,
those gaps are being concertinaed together.
Now then, this is the first big news
because Juan Ayuso, who started the day in fifth position,
is already losing contact on the way up to those first Hairpin bend.
Skjelmose hangs on Ayuso looking after himself here
as Pogacar is showering himself ready for action.
Just noticed something quickly about Tadej Pogacar last shot.
He sprayed. We grabbed a bid on.
Dropped the Ice sock, sprayed it onto his face and everywhere,
and he threw the bid on in on the ground in.
Looked like disgust to me. I wonder if he's just got a mix up
between what was water, what was maybe electrolyte?
And he's showered himself in a sticky drink.
Here he goes though Tadej Pogacar attacks
as he gets to the first hairpin.
He's trying to not leave anything to chance here.
All the talk. Was he well, was he not?
The first indications are that he's more than fighting fit.
He certainly is.
Uh, you know, when we see there that he had a team-mate with him.
But I think the team-mate was pretty much finished.
And immediately he does hang around and wait for the rest.
See, with some of the other ones start riding.
See, Remco starts, you know, setting this pace.
But no, he just goes here we can see
everybody is just fighting to keep him in their sights here.
And it's going to be a one.
Now when he gets away like this he just slowly goes away
and yeah, all the other rest of the favours.
Just, uh, following each other here
in this Decathlon Hoole continuing on to set this pace.
All those questions, all the speculation.
If there are any questions about Tadej Pogacar.
Is he okay? Is he ill? Does he want it?
Here's your answer. On his way up to Beefeater.
Ben, there's a look from Tiberi who laughs, smiles, sees him going.
He's on his way to cycling's version of the Barmy Army,
and he's going barmy on this mountain as well.
The fight for the next places is going on
behind the stage here sees Kuss now attack,
and Arensman attack was perhaps too early.
It's Kuss. Following him is Carapaz.
And then you can see Martinez and the gap is still 250.
It's a Pogacar time triallist to the top.
It's a pursuit, Robbie. With this group and this move by Sepp Kuss.
This has been forced upon them by the move of Tadej Pogacar.
There might have been a little bit of posturing Kuss following wheels
and settling in the rhythm. Waiting for the moment.
You cannot wait any more.
When you hear that Tadej Pogacar is on the move, you must go.
Adam Yates. Now for Pogacar just to do a big turn of pace.
Connection for Yates. And what can he offer his mate?
Twisting. Turning up this natural stadium.
It's cycling's most famous set piece showdown at its very best actor.
Who wants to win? Right here, right now.
Tadej Pogacar, by the way,
half a minute ahead of the White jersey group.
That, of course, is his team mate, del Toro, who is
with Evenepoel and Seixas.
Also there a couple of others hanging on Skjelmose amongst them.
And Yates job is done. There goes Pogacar.
Yates can offer no more. In a couple of days ago.
Here to offer everything he could
and Pogacar continues his quest off in search of the catch.
Pogacar is left Adam Yates behind. He's done his job.
That ticker is coming down again, down to 218.
So in the space of about 350m, he's taken almost 15 seconds.
Now off the group. He's starting to look at each other.
Lenny Martinez looks across. Carapaz still pushing on.
It's getting a little bit cagey here and they are losing time quickly.
Yes, well, it's been cagey for a long time, Robbie.
They're just looking at each other making a little bit
of an attack here and then stopping another one tries to go here.
In the meantime you are losing this time here.
And we can see there at nine kilometres from the finish.
Like this is a long, long way with an advantage of, you know, 214
at the moment when you look at Pogacar,
you'd say, well, a climb up, you know, eight or 9km,
he could take, you know, 3.5 minutes of these guys and we can see the way
he's just in the rhythm here just flying up this mountain.
I told you not to have any distractions for 45 minutes or so.
The first point you might not need 45 minutes.
Second point, we could be watching one of the ascents in the history
of this sport right here, right now. We have to stop. Watch on it.
The watch we can see on the screen says 20s in the click of a finger.
Since he made his next move and a move goes from the front,
Carapaz will be being reminded what's happening behind.
He goes. He digs. Kuss is the one who's dropped.
And look at Lenny Martinez the ride of his life.
He's doing a fantastic ride,
but it's very, very dangerous to follow these accelerations.
By Richard Carapaz Sepp Kuss.
Yes, he was distanced very quickly and quite
a substantial gap doesn't mean by any means that he is gone.
Settle in the rhythm, pedal his way back and
I would think Carapaz doesn't really need to get rid of the rest
with these really venomous attacks.
He's got a good sprint. I would back him at the top
of the mountain if there was three of them together.
He looks over to check on Kuss, but the gap is the same
as when he took off now. Carapaz needs some recovery.
Castro Kuss Verona tempo his way back on.
A moment to breathe.
A flick of the elbow from Carapaz and
a look over the shoulder from Lenny Martinez.
This angle showing us how much out of each hairpin.
The road really rises up 8% here and come Sep.
Pogacar down to 151.
He's almost halved the gap already in a quarter of the climb.
And now Paul Seixas, after having had Benoot work
for him, comes to the front and presses on.
He's trying to test El Del Toro here.
Yes, well, he has to test the other ones, but
he also wants to keep on this pace,
and I think he just likes to put on a real strong pace
and you know, keep going and going. That's what he can do here and yeah.
Is he getting any help from the other ones.
If we pan back a little bit more we could see that.
But here they are just continuing on this game of, you know,
mocking each other, looking at each other.
We did see that when Carapaz went with Martinez, they started
to ride together a bit. And that's what they've got to need to do.
Carapaz you know, he needs to just get
the others to just take a little bit of a turn
on the front, even if it's not as much as you were doing,
but get further up this line because this gap is coming down so quickly.
And yeah, any chance of maybe going all the way
if this man cannot keep this pace going?
You never know. You have to just try
every tactic when you're out in front in this situation.
And look at the view, these guys have the potential.
History Simmons looks on all decked in yellow.
The goat goes past Romo was there as well.
The Slovenian flags are out, but it is like the United Nations up here.
Another hairpin ticked off for Tadej Pogacar 140.
Now from the front and over a minute in front of Del Toro,
his Team-mate Evenepoel, who has Cattaneo,
Seixas and Skjelmose, who's turning out to be
the best Lidl Trek rider in the General classification.
And keep your eye on the crowd here. Let's hope.
Let's cross fingers. You can see how close they get.
You can see how wonderfully flavorous it is.
But that brings dangers. Giuseppe Guerini, 1999.
And the photographer crashed in the last kilometre
but still won the stage.
And as recently as 2018, Vincenzo Nibali getting
that photographer's camera strap in his bars crashing.
Finishing the stage but did not stop the day after
with a broken vertebra.
They've come from all nations to Alpe d'Huez. What a scene!
Arensman now drifting back and Pogacar.
He is just picking them off one by one.
Here comes Pac-Man! Pogacar Carapaz once more.
An aggressive nature Kuss. Once again,
as Robbie was describing before, Shawn just does what he can do.
He'll stick to those numbers.
He'll try and come back if they start falling out again.
Yes, well, of course he doesn't have this explosive attack on a time
like this. And you know, you have to just walk to your strengths.
And that's what Sepp Kuss is doing here.
And Carapaz is continuing on to do this.
We did see Lenny Martinez was starting to walk with him.
As you can see again, he's just come to the front here.
He has to just keep on riding together,
try and get as far up the mountain and then see
what he can do in the end, try and drop the rider.
I would Carapaz like he is very fast in the finish.
I think against Lenny Martinez, I would pick him as the fastest rider
when you look at the situation. 114 Back to Pogacar.
The way they're just, you know, playing about as such. Yeah,
they're throwing you any chance of going all the way to the finish.
Out the door.
I agree with Sean there. The acceleration by Richard Carapaz.
Eventually they're going to hurt him.
And Kuss now makes his own Kuss is having to go just as the French fans
have started to get excited seeing Martinez still up there.
Remember it is stage 19 and we are yet to get a French victory.
Perfect tactic by Sepp Kuss.
Just let the first couple of attacks happen.
Steady state step by step. He rides his way back into the wheel
and when he feels that they've got to catch their breath,
get a little bit of recovery from the acceleration, he goes himself.
But look at the ominous feeling as Robbie said, look at that gap.
It's down to just over a minute
and there's still 6.5km to ride for the group out in front.
If ever there was a script to be written to come
from a long way back, to close a gap,
to set the fastest time to seal the tour de France,
to win on the legendary mountain Tadej Pogacar
might have just picked it up in the hotel this morning,
and he is reading it line by line to perfection.
It's a glorious image.
And once more, Tadej Pogacar is right at the centre of it.
On the way to pro cycling's most famous finish, steep
and steeped in history with another big chapter.
You just get that feeling being written right here, right now.
50s and Carapaz kicks for the umpteenth time.
This one answered a little bit more strongly
by Sepp Kuss looking over the shoulder,
looking for the reaction of Lenny Martinez.
Another huge attack by Richard Carapaz, but if anything,
they're just getting slightly less potent each time.
Sepp Kuss all the gaps, opening a little bit more to Kuss this time.
This time. But Martinez for now has the answer.
This is great to see for Lenny Martinez.
However, it ends today because before we knew about Paul Seixas,
this man was the next big thing for France, wasn't he?
Yes, and he is really improving as the years go on.
As we can see, they just have to knock it off a little bit here.
Carapaz slowing it down.
Martinez going very close to the spectators there. But yeah.
Lenny Martinez he's doing a really strong performance here.
And yeah, he's the one who maybe fresh
has gone into this stage because Carapaz let's not forget he was out
in the breakaway yesterday Martinez in the peloton.
So, you know, that is a little bit of an advantage.
And you can see after the the attack
of Carapaz Martinez, he just goes to the front every time.
So that tells that he is not, you know, totally in the red
when Carapaz attacks. Five days to go at the front.
They're just about through the latest wall of spectators.
That was putting them off that little bit there you could see.
But look at those gaps.
Robbie Pogacar has taken two minutes already on the group.
He left. But over the last almost kilometre
it hasn't changed by very much for Tadej Pogacar.
So with his big accelerations by Richard Carapaz and the reactions
from the other two, it's keeping Tadej Pogacar at bay.
Over this last little section and steady state.
Sepp has returned once again, a terrific trio.
Will they be the people's champs if they could hold the big man
off here?
Well, that gap dropping quickly on screen.
But you've also got to consider that the motorbike with the
with the camera and the GPS equipment, they float
a little bit forwards and backwards, depending on crowd density, etc.
it's hard to know exactly all the time,
but it's giving us 38 at the moment. They're Wright with Tadej Pogacar.
He is coming quick, so Sepp Kuss is around the corner here.
Another dig from him. What a fight we're seeing.
It's still not a given that Tadej Pogacar is going to catch them.
It's going to come down to the wire, and I really think it's in the hands
of these three and how they choose to ride this next four kilometres.
They're just going to attack each other and pause,
or really get down to business and sort of give the nod.
Let's just make sure we get there.
Everybody put in full full gas from Sean.
It's half a minute now. Yes, it's coming down quickly,
but Sepp Kuss is doing a really good pull there.
That's what they need to do. Just go to the front.
One rider pulled for 150 200m, and then the other rider do the same.
They should have been doing that much earlier, as we can see.
You know Pogacar is coming up very quickly.
But yeah still 4.2 to go here.
I think it's just going to be that little bit too much
for the three leaders out in front to hold on.
Here's Kuss the money to go there.
We saw Saint Pogacar in the parting of the crowds.
Kuss here again. Vuelta a Espana.
Winner! There's Carapaz. He's won the Giro.
Martinez a future king anointed. But here's the goat in yellow.
Only four wins in this tour. Looking for number five.
But it's not the numbers he wants today.
It's the name. It's the place. It is.
That set piece monument climb Alpe d'Huez.
The crowd is incredible, like the United Nations of cycling fans
and looking at the faces and seeing the cheers,
the encouragement, it's like the spectators.
All these fans have made their way to Alpe d'Huez.
They want the mythical climb to be won by
what's quickly becoming the mythical man.
But he wants them out the way you could see the hand there,
the gestures, here I come, and he's at 20s now.
He will soon see them up the road.
And here through this arch, he does see them.
Tadej Pogacar makes visual contact with four kilometres still to ride.
And into the barriers into the open air and a much better view
and Tadej Pogacar he can see his prey.
The apex predator is on the way.
Oh, Pogacar is on his way to make contact. As Robbie was just saying.
Here he is. They will look round and think,
oh no, not again. Behind.
Very quickly Riccitello made contact with Seixas.
And he's pulling that group now. There they go.
They look behind. Oh, we've got to get a move on, guys.
Yes. Well, we can see here
that they can, you know, just look over their shoulder.
They can see Pogacar coming up and it's going to be an interesting one.
How much Pogacar has, you know given here to get up to those guys
because the gap was a big one.
Uh, he has closed the real well and now coming into the final 3.5km.
It does get a bit easy as well in this section.
Then as you go into Alpe d'Huez itself,
it just gets more steep on that last number of kilometres there.
Will there be some chance fencing their chances
in the sprint against this man?
But I think Pogacar will he way to the sprint when he comes up here.
Will he just put in that you know big, big attack once again
and just distant the three riders we have here in the front end of race.
I don't think POG wants to go to a sprint.
I think he'd love to cross the line alone. The interesting thing to see
will be how does he approach crossing the last part of this gap?
Is it really tempo already kind of saving something
in a little bit of recovery, just loading the battery up.
And then how long does he stay with them?
When he gets there, does he try and go straight away?
Even Nepal makes the move. Sorry to interrupt,
but this is the man in second place who's taken on the rest must chase.
Were looking at those in front as he tries to get ahead in Nepal
himself going like a motorbike, never mind trying to pass it.
And then we are looking to Seixas,
to Del Toro to see how they react at the front.
They react before he gets to him. It's chaos on the mountain.
Sepp Kuss with another attack. Absolute chaos.
Further down and caught in a traffic jam was
Remco Evenepoel Kuss acceleration matched by Martinez and Carapaz.
But they just know it's inevitable. The man in yellow is almost on.
Well, they try to chase at the moment.
Here is Nepal. He's attacked the four cars to go.
Now it's Seixas himself is going to go out in search.
Look here at the man in the multi-coloured jersey.
That's Skjelmose standing to be in around fifth or sixth place?
It's Del Toro to six after we're looking at.
Yes. And look at the gap back to this group
of Seixas and the White jersey.
Like they have lost so much time on this man.
We can see in the background in the yellow jersey here
and they continue on here.
Carapaz the question is, is Pogacar just leave them hanging out there.
As Robbie mentioned, lead them attack each other because
when you come up to them, they're going to just sit in your wheel.
Unless you can put in a big attack and you'll go blind very,
very quickly.
Uh, because we can see Carapaz is the one who's turning out to be
just that little bit stronger here. Uh, 2.5 to go.
But yeah, this man, what has he got left to close down this final 10s?
Well, that was the one by Carapaz.
That was the answer didn't come from Sepp Kuss.
Martinez tried. He can't go. He looks over, sees Pogacar.
So Richard Carapaz now on the loose
and it will be 100% effort from now as far as he can get,
and he hopes that is as far as the finish line.
Pogacar Kuss. He goes past Martinez for the first time on this climb.
It was Carapaz unanswered.
2.5km to go.
The stopwatch is on, by the way.
A reminder those records 37 minutes, 35 seconds for the 14.5 Kuss 3655
for 13.8 is about to tick over to 30 minutes right now.
Del Toro Del Toro questions about how he's been.
The answer here is that it looks
as though he could be putting Paul Seixas further from the podium
and the white jersey on a day when France began with plenty of dreams.
But France might still be dreaming here, because as Pogacar gets close
to Carapaz, there are two kilometres to go.
So Sits up Lenny Martinez Wright on the wheel.
But Martinez has done an incredible job to be able
to follow Tadej Pogacar back across this gap,
which still isn't closed yet.
And Richard Carapaz he's fighting,
he's making Tadej Pogacar really hurt himself to close
every single centimetre of this gap.
But there it is.
Pac-Man POG. He's got them all.
Tadej Pogacar, just under two kilometres from the summit,
completes the catch of 3.5 minutes.
He started at the bottom. However this ends.
That was absolutely exhilarating.
And now the games begin for the stage win
and a chance as they come through town here to add their name
to the most famous roll of honour in mountain climbing.
Yes, and we can see Carapaz continue on to make a nice pace here
And that's because he just needs that little bit of a rest point
after just making this effort here. And yeah,
it's going to be an interesting one. As we go to the line.
Pogacar goes here. He wants to go with the attack.
Tadej Pogacar moves and at the minute he can't distance them.
And that is a change to usual advertised programming.
Carapaz On the wheel Martinez. In third.
It's a real competition. This.
They've gone through the named and celebrated corners,
each bend every metre lined with history there in the town.
Now the fans are here and they're getting the show they wanted.
One of the most celebrated and storeyed of a sense,
is getting one of the best chapters in its history.
Well, Tadej Pogacar coming out of the tunnel knew it was
the right moment to go.
A little steep kicker had a go at making that acceleration,
quickly looked over, said it's just not for now.
Not with that gap. He's had to close, and
it's going to be an intriguing battle between these three.
If it does indeed become a sprint to the line,
I wonder if Pogacar got one more in him to see if he can offload.
One kilometre to go on Alpe d'Huez Tadej Pogacar with Carapaz
with Martinez Sean, and he can't yet shake them.
No? Well, he did give a try there,
but you see immediately they were in the wheel and just continues on.
Settle this real strong pace as we go through the Kilometre zero
just goes downhill a little bit here.
And again he's just testing them. Of course we can see.
I think they're all going to be able to follow here on the wheel.
And yeah, in the sprint it's going to be an interesting one.
Opening Opens a gap now the gap 800m. Tadej Pogacar knowing now
that every pedal stroke takes him closer to a place in history,
he doubles down, he grits his teeth.
The most incredible ascent, rapid time,
and another great story about to be added to a legend
Alpe d'Huez tour de France and Tadej Pogacar is going to conquer it.
Now he's not just winning stages, he is reshaping the record books.
Pogacar had to win here. It was written in the stars,
destined to do it on the most legendary of mountains.
It's not just the fact he's going to do it.
It's the way in which he has done it today.
The questions about illness.
Will his team be strong enough? A break getting almost five minutes,
a 3.5 minute gap closed from bottom to top.
Tadej Pogacar collecting monument climbs.
Here he is in the yellow jersey.
And now, just three days from joining the five time winner's club,
Tadej Pogacar is here to cement his name
on the roll of honour of the mighty Alpe d'Huez.
It's Pogacar on Alpe d'Huez.
It is the fastest ever ascent,
and Tadej Pogacar On seals it with a fairy tale, Hollywood style script.
Win fit not meant now, 35 minutes and 27 seconds
has smashed the Alpe d'Huez record.
Tadej Pogacar take a bow.
Wow, what a ride. And you know we could see it in the final.
The way he would just continue on keeping the pressure on.
Just increase that and
just put the other guys in difficulty and rides away alone.
But my God, you know, when you look at the start of this time,
would he be able to do it against the riders out in front
but just dominated?
That is around a minute and a half out of the time
that Marco Pantani set in 1997.
Just let that sink in.
Sepp Kuss here and the part he played today.
A special one as well. Pogacar Martinez who will jump up
in the general classification France not getting its win yet,
but getting another man high up in the GC third for Carapaz fourth,
of course, going to Sepp Kuss
their Remco Evenepoel also making sure that second place is
very likely to be his Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe committed today,
and he is going to take time on his rivals for that podium.
Already a healthy lead over Del Toro Johannessen
with another combative top ten ride.
He's collecting those and Remco Evenepoel already a winner.
We questioned whether he could do it at the tour.
His answer with his new preparation is a resounding yes.
Remco Evenepoel over here comes Del Toro and behind.
We are looking at Seixas and Skjelmose, the latter Clearly.
GC Lead-out for Lidl Trek Del Toro.
Here comes France's 19 year old Paul Seixas with another incredible ride.
Yes, it will be overshadowed by what we've just seen.
My God, the way he just took off in the early kilometres of the alpine.
And you know that pace he was going.
We could see the way the gap was coming down so quickly.
Impressive. And this guy keeps on impressing us all the time.
And every time it seems to get better.
Well, every hairpin was lined several deep,
all winning everybody on.
And Tadej Pogacar has continued to push this sport on one by one.
They'll come over, each having their own Alpe d'Huez experience.
Tomorrow they'll do it again.
But from the other side for those 21 hairpins,
the latest story, possibly its greatest.
Tadej Pogacar and Alpe d'Huez now go together in the record books.
It's a magnificent fifth stage win
at this year's tour de France for Tadej Pogacar,
and this time it comes atop the iconic Alpe d'Huez.
Was it ever in doubt? Probably not.
He takes his first ever victory on this legendary mountain.
Tadej Pogacar. Rarely have we seen you celebrate so much
and be so happy after a victory. This one really meant a lot for you.
I think I celebrated the same, like always.
But still it's us and it's your first victory at us.
It's a very cool, uh, two to win up here.
And, uh, yeah, it was crazy, crazy atmosphere all climb and, uh.
Yeah, uh, it was, uh,
thanks to all the team that, uh, that I could pull it off in the end.
Uh, and, uh, yeah, I was riding.
I was riding for the team-mates today, and,
and yeah, I'm super happy to take the win.
It was a pretty ambitious plan.
It was a Pogacar plan to take off early on the final climb.
Yeah, when I heard some of the guys drop when Felix was pulling
super good pace at the beginning of the climb, I knew that.
Yeah, I mean, already the climb before we could,
we were going full gas because the breakaway was so strong.
We were going full gas all day. And then at the beginning,
first kilometre of Alpe d'Huez, I knew that, yeah,
it's a it's a good I have good legs and there's not many guys left that,
uh, that maybe can follow or, or try to go with me.
So I tried and, uh, yeah, then I committed to the top.
I have Adam in the middle. Uh, give me a big morale boost.
And I was super happy that he is finally back.
And after that day of TT, he was so bad.
And, uh, yeah, I'm was super happy to ride behind him
for a couple of kilometres on the, on the climb and yeah, uh,
in the end I had to fight a fight off against super good riders,
but they were playing a bit with each other in the end.
So this helped me to to catch up and win the win the stage.
He takes the stage win six seconds ahead of Lenny Martinez
and nine seconds ahead of Richard Carapaz.
To put that into context, they started the climb
just under 3.5 minutes ahead of him.
Sepp Kuss and Tobias Harland Johannessen,
also part of the breakaway, came home in fourth and fifth
with Remco Evenepoel finishing sixth, almost 2.5 minutes down.
We can cross now to Hannah Walker.
She's joined by a special guest today.
The mythical Alpe d'Huez. What an incredible stage.
Tadej Pogacar taking that victory atop of the climb behind me,
closing that gap to the breakaway.
And I'm stood here with a very, very special guest who's been enjoying
the tour de France from the other side of the fence, Chris Froome.
Four years ago, you were here battling
for the stage victory against another Brit Tom Pidcock.
What does it feel like to be here on the other side
and witnessing that performance today?
I mean, uh, absolutely loving being here.
Uh, especially being stood on the other side of the fence
because, uh, yeah, that that that just hurts.
And I don't miss that at all that, that side of it at all.
But, uh, yeah, what a, what a pleasure to witness that.
I mean, that was really quite something quite special
that we saw today. Um, I mean,
it was really obviously touch and go with the stage who was going to,
if it was going to come from the breakaway or from the GC group.
But I mean, that that ride that Ted did,
I mean, it sounds as if he, he smashed whatever record stood
before before on for Alpe d'Huez and just super impressive.
Nothing more to say really. Yeah, absolutely.
Incredible. Incredible.
Looking ahead to another big day tomorrow with so much elevation,
5400m of elevation across a long stage,
can you see any other team, any rival trying something?
I'd say the race for the yellow jersey. That's that was that was
over the first day we started climbing exactly on the Tourmalet.
But this is this is really now the race for for for the podium spots.
Now I think I think we'll see a big battle between those guys.
And I think today is just going to sit back
and benefit off of that battle.
And he'll probably come in at the end and steal the victory
as in true fashion. But, uh, yeah, we'll wait and see.
This is how the General classification stacks up.
And Tadej Pogacar takes another huge step
towards a fifth tour de France title.
He now leads the race by seven minutes and 11 seconds.
Isaac Del Toro remains in third now nine minutes
and 42 seconds behind the race leader.
In the battle for the white jersey, Del Toro extends his advantage
by a few more seconds and now sits 24 seconds ahead
of Paul Seixas after a day in the breakaway.
Lenny Martinez climbs two places
in the general classification to round out the top five.
If you thought today had a lot of climbing.
Tomorrow is even more brutal.
There are 5450m of climbing packed into 171km.
The route starts in Le Bourgeois and finishes back on Alpe d'Huez,
but this time the riders will climb it via the Col de Saram.
Before that, though, the peloton must tackle two
or category climbs the Col de Glandon and the Col du Galibier.
With 70 points on offer in the King of the mountains competition
tomorrow will be the decisive day.
Richard Carapaz leads that classification
by just a single point ahead of Tadej Pogacar.
While the crowd scenes were incredible.
Einer Rubio was forced to abandon
after fans unfortunately failed to get out of the way in time.
Just one more day remains before the procession into Paris,
and Tadej Pogacar takes another step closer to joining the greats.
Join us tomorrow for another epic day in the mountains.