Tour de France 2025 results: Tadej Pogacar moves closer to victory as Ben O’Connor wins on Col de la Loze

The Col de la Loze is the mountain on which Pogacar conceded the Tour two years ago, famously telling his team “I’m gone, I’m dead” as Vingegaard disappeared up the road.

But on Thursday, he maintained control throughout a gruelling stage and neutralised Vingegaard’s early attempt to put him under pressure.

Vingegaard, winner in 2022 and 2023, and his Visma-Lease a Bike team successfully isolated the Slovenian from his team-mates inside the final five kilometres of the Col de la Madeleine.

But, after launching his first attack with 70km still remaining, he was unable to apply further pressure and Pogacar regained team-mates before the ascent of the Col de la Loze.

At the front, O’Connor broke clear of Einer Rubio with 16km of climbing ahead of him and the Team Jayco–AlUla rider held on with Pogacar prioritising the defence of his yellow jersey over the stage victory.

Pogacar eventually made a move inside the closing stages, sprinting away from Vingegaard to finish nine seconds clear while collecting six bonus seconds for his second place, to his rival’s four.

Onley, 22, managed to follow Pogacar and Vingegaard to boost his podium hopes and, after seeing Lipowitz struggle on the final climb, will aim to move above the German in another challenging stage on Friday.

Pogacar will look to once again defend the yellow jersey when the final mountain stage of this year’s race takes the riders over five ascents on a 130km route from Albertville to La Plagne – including two more climbs which fall under the hors categorie.

“I’m happy I had good legs and kept the yellow jersey. It was difficult to make any difference today. I was a bit scared of this stage, but it turned out to be a beautiful day,” said Pogacar.

“I expect tomorrow to be another big day. Visma will try everything, but we are strong as a team and I hope we will survive so we can reach the Champs-Elysees in yellow on Sunday.”