PEYRAGUDES (France) - Slovenian cyclist Tadej Pogačar confirmed his dominance at this year's Tour de France by dominating a demanding mountain time trial on Friday's 13th stage. The victory gave him his fourth triumph of the current season and a significant consolidation of the leader's yellow jersey.

The stage led through the Pyrenees and ended with a brutal climb to the ski resort of Peyragudes. Pogačar gave an excellent performance, which confirmed his great form. He crossed the finish line with a significant lead over second-placed Jonas Vingegaard from Denmark, who lost almost a minute.

"It was an extremely hard time trial, but I felt good. I had the right pace and great support from the team. Winning on such a high profile is special for me," said Pogačar after the finish.

After thirteen stages he now has a lead of over four minutes over his nearest pursuer Vingegaard. This time advantage represents a significant step towards overall triumph, even though the Tour de France is far from over.

The third place in the stage went to Colombian Egan Bernal, who after many years is once again among the elite. Favourites such as Remco Evenepoel and Primož Roglič are losing more valuable seconds and starting to focus more on the fight for the podium.

The Tour now heads into another mountain stage, which could once again shake up the standings. However, with the form Pogačar has been showing, it seems that the only obstacle to his third overall win could be an unexpected crash or fall.

gnews.cz - GH