Pogačar Dominates Hautacam to Take Third Stage Win and Yellow Jersey

🧩 Piece by piece… becoming monumental#TDF2025 pic.twitter.com/1lwsrxhlQZ

— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 17, 2025

With twelve kilometers to go on the climb to Hautacam, Tadej Pogačar launched a decisive attack and quickly dropped Jonas Vingegaard, whose grip on the Slovenian finally slipped for the first time in this year’s Tour de France. The gap grew from five to ten seconds, then to half a minute, one minute, and eventually to more than two minutes. The world champion claimed his third stage win of the 112th Tour de France, regaining the overall lead with a margin of more than three and a half minutes.

Revenge for Hautacam 2022? Yes and No.

“From the first time I reconned Hautacam, I knew it was a beautiful climb. I’ve always looked forward to this one, but in 2022 Jumbo-Visma was just too strong here. I tried everything to take the yellow jersey, but it wasn’t enough,” Pogačar recalled.

Back in 2022, Wout van Aert and Vingegaard combined forces on Hautacam to crack Pogačar, who finished that stage one minute and four seconds behind the Dane, conceding the Tour title to him for the first time.

“I almost forgot all about it, but everyone kept telling me this year that the climb was coming and that it was time for payback. I just looked forward to it. Today’s stage was very tense and really tough. On the flat sections, we were going nearly 100 km/h, and that already hurt the legs. If you weren’t mentally prepared, this stage was brutal. Visma set a strong pace on the first climb. I saw Matteo Jorgenson struggling and thought, ‘Okay, one rival less, now I just have to focus on Jonas,’” Pogačar told reporters at the summit of Hautacam after his sweet victory.

Overall Standings After Stage 12 (of 21)

  1. T. POGAČAR       SLO   45:22:51
  2. J. VINGEGAARD    DEN      +3:31
  3. R. EVENEPOEL     BEL      +4:45
  4. F. LIPOWITZ      GER      +5:34
  5. K. VAUQUELIN     FRA      +5:40
  6. O. ONLEY         GBR      +6:05
  7. P. ROGLIČ        SLO      +7:30
  8. T. JOHANNESSEN   NOR      +7:44
  9. F. GALL          AUT      +9:21
 10. M. JORGENSON     USA     +12:21
 11. B. HEALY         IRL     +13:19
 12. C. RODRIGUEZ     ESP     +17:56

Vingegaard crossed the line on Hautacam 2:11 behind Pogačar, falling to second overall with a 3:31 deficit. Just 13 seconds behind the Dane came Florian Lipowitz, who is emerging as the team leader for Red Bull BORA Hansgrohe.

Roglič Climbs to Seventh Overall

Primož Roglič faded in the final kilometers of the climb, dropping out of contention for fourth place and finishing ninth, 4:08 behind Pogačar. He moved up two spots overall to seventh, trailing the Slovenian leader by 7:30. He now sits 2:45 behind third-placed Remco Evenepoel.

UAE’s Winning Counterattack

Visma’s Aggressive Move on Soulor

Stage 12 from Auch to Hautacam (180 km with 3,850 meters of elevation) featured the first Category 1 climb of this year’s Tour. On the Soulor Pass (11.8 km at 7.6%), Visma Lease a Bike took control and launched a fierce attack 57 km from the finish, putting pressure on Pogačar and the other contenders.

White jersey holder Remco Evenepoel quickly lost contact, while Primož Roglič stayed with the lead group. Yellow jersey wearer Ben Healy also couldn’t keep up. When Visma’s second leader, Matteo Jorgenson, cracked, the team had to slow down and wait for the American.

UAE Emirates then took the initiative. Stronger as a team in the finale, they launched Pogačar on a solo attack up the climb that had once delivered him one of his most painful defeats. This time, the Slovenian champion took his revenge with interest.