Defending champion Tadej Pogacar extends his lead by winning stage seven at the Tour de France

Close to the place Tadej Pogacar sealed his first Tour de France victory two years in the past, he moved a step nearer to a 3rd with a stage win on La Planche des Belles Filles on Friday.

It was on the climb in the Vosges mountains that Pogacar wrestled the yellow jersey from fellow Slovenian Primoz Roglic in a dramatic time trial in 2020.

This time racing continued for one more kilometre, the ‘Super’ model of the climb with gravel sections and 24 per cent inclines — distance sufficient for the primary contenders to interrupt the coronary heart of breakaway rider Lennard Kamna in sight of the end and for Pogacar to move Jonas Vingegaard on the line.

Tadej Pogacar moved a step nearer to a 3rd Tour de France victory with a stage win on Friday

There are 14 phases to go this 12 months however barring harm or incident this appears to be like like being the 23-year-old’s race to lose as he bids to grow to be solely the ninth man to win three or extra Tours and solely the seventh to win three in a row.

The UAE Team Emirates rider leads by 35 seconds from Jumbo-Visma’s Vingegaard, with Geraint Thomas of the Ineos Grenadiers as much as third, 70sec down after dropping 14sec in the previous few metres of the summit end.

But Pogacar’s second stage win in as many days — he took yellow from Wout Van Aert into Longwy on Thursday — once more underlined his dominance.

Pogacar surged previous Jonas Vingegaard as he claimed his second consecutive stage victory

It is simply 10 years since this climb made its Tour debut, a day when Sir Bradley Wiggins moved into yellow and Chris Froome took his first stage win, however already it has seen quite a few important days in Tour historical past and this has the potential to be one other.

Pogacar mentioned: ‘It was really difficult, especially in the end. The last part, when Jonas attacked, he was so strong but I thought, “My boys have been working all day, I have to push to the finish line”.

‘It was a big goal. Jonas is one of the strongest climbers in the world, probably the best climber in the world. A little advantage is always good but in cycling no gap is enough.’