Imperious Pogacar wins his fourth stage of 2024 Tour

Tadej Pogacar continued his dominance at the Tour de France as he won his fourth stage and substantially extended his overall lead.

The Slovenian attacked in the Alps with nine kilometres to go, making up almost three minutes to catch and pass stage leader Matteo Jorgenson of the United States.

His yellow jersey rivals Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel were unable to respond and ultimately lost one minute and 42 seconds to the Giro d’Italia winner.

Pogacar’s lead over defending champion Vingergaard now stands at an imposing five minutes and three seconds with two stages remaining.

Simon Yates finished third, with Jorgenson holding off the Briton to claim second.

After his win Pogacar, 25, described the stage as “100% perfect” and added he could “enjoy tomorrow” after extending his lead in the yellow jersey.

The two-time winner raced conservatively until the final climb into the resort of Isola 2000, where his blistering attack was too much for both his rivals around him and those up the road.

“We were here training for a whole month between the Giro and Tour,” he added. “I knew this climb super well. I was speaking with team-mates in the training camp how we wanted to race and we did it exactly how we wanted.”

Two stages stand between Pogacar and a third Tour de France title.

On Saturday, the peloton stays in the mountains and finishes on the Col de la Couillole. The tour ends with a time trial into Nice on Sunday.

But such is Pogacar’s dominance this season, it seems as if Friday’s stage 19 may go down as the day the 2024 tour was won.

He won the Giro d’Italia in May and could become the first man since Marco Pantani in 1998 to win the two tours in the same year.

More to follow.