'They give us more power': Pogačar wins Tour stage, dismisses booing fans

Tadej Pogačar reinforced his grip on the Tour de France, claiming his third stage victory of the race on Bastille Day. The Slovenian rider launched a decisive attack on the Col de Pertus, the day's final categorized climb, to distance his closest rivals.

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To all the guys who were booing: They give us more power.

Pogačar surged past Richard Carapaz and then left Jonas Vingegaard trailing, establishing a significant gap by the summit. He extended this lead on the descent, ultimately crossing the finish line 32 seconds ahead of Remco Evenepoel, who finished second on the stage. Sepp Kuss secured third place, 34 seconds behind the winner.

The victory marks Pogačar's 24th career stage win in the Tour de France and his third of the current edition. Despite facing some boos from spectators due to his overwhelming dominance, Pogačar remained unfazed. "To all the guys who were booing: They give us more power," he stated after the stage. "Today was incredible… we targeted this stage from a long time ago."

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Today was incredible … we targeted this stage from a long time ago.

Pogačar's commanding performance has extended his overall lead to 3 minutes and 36 seconds over Vingegaard after 10 stages, his largest lead at this point in the race. Meanwhile, Australian riders faced a challenging day, with Chris Harper crashing and appearing to injure his wrist, finishing over 32 minutes behind the leader.

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My legs were destroyed in the end. I didn’t know I was going to win until the last kilometre. I remembered it was Bastille Day, and wanted to honour the yellow jersey.