Pogacar tightens grip on Tour as O'Connor wins ‘Queen’ stage

TADEJ Pogacar conquered his demons on the Col de la Loze to stretch his advantage in yellow as Ben O'Connor won stage 18 of the Tour de France in a hailstorm.

- 

On the mountain where Pogacar famously cracked in 2023 as Jonas Vingegaard rode away to his second Tour crown, Pogacar was the one gaining time two years later as a late dig at the summit saw him add 11 seconds to an overall lead that now stands at four minutes 26 seconds over Vingegaard.

Oscar Onley, the 22-year-old Scot, hung with the two main favourites until the last 500 metres of this brutal 171.5km stage from Vif which took in three hors categorie climbs, gaining 39 seconds on Florian Lipowitz to move to within 22 seconds of the podium with one mountain stage left.