Pogačar powers to 3rd stage victory to demoralize rivals and extend Tour de France lead

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LE LIORAN, France (AP) — Tadej Pogačar won the 10th stage of the Tour de France to deal his rivals another crushing blow and extend his overall lead on Tuesday.

Pogačar, who had already sapped his rivals’ morale with victory on the iconic Col du Tourmalet on Thursday, again stamped his authority with a break just over 900 meters from the summit of the Col de Pertus, the penultimate climb on Tuesday’s hilly stage.

Pogačar’s closest race rival Jonas Vingegaard couldn’t follow and Pogačar quickly made ground on Richard Carapaz before powering past him 200 meters before the summit. The Slovenian rider didn’t slow down. Pogačar was 5 seconds ahead of Carapaz at the summit, and 18 ahead of Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel, Florian Lipowitz, Juan Ayuso and Paul Seixas.

At the finish line, Pogačar was 32 seconds ahead of Evenepoel for his 24th stage victory altogether – his third on Bastille Day, France’s national holiday – and the third already at this Tour.

Seixas, French fans’ greatest hope, was third, 34 seconds behind.

Vingegaard could only finish 44 seconds behind Pogačar, leaving the yellow jersey holder with a lead of 3 minutes, 36 seconds after 10 stages.

Four-time champion Pogačar already had the biggest lead he has ever had at this stage of the race.

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AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports