Tour de France 2025 Stage 13 recap - Tadej Pogacar demolishes the field to win uphill time trial at Peyragudes ahead of Jonas Vingegaard

Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) became the youngest rider in history to win 21 stages of the Tour de France with a barnstorming performances in Friday’s mountain time trial at Peyragudes.

Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) caught the Olympic and world time trial champion Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) on the steep final ramp – but still this was not enough to derail the peerless Pogacar’s pursuit of perfection.

The 26-year-old triple Tour champion completed the 10.9km race of truth in a time of 23 minutes on the nose – a whopping 36 seconds quicker than his nearest challenger, Vingegaard, to win his fourth stage of the race. Pogacar now leads the Dane by over four minutes in the overall standings, with Evenepoel slumping 7:23 in arrears after another day to forget in the Pyrenees for the Belgian.

Riding without a radio and eschewing a time trial bike and other aerodynamic gismos for a regular climbing steed, Pogacar led at each of the check points to deliver a cruel blow to Vingegaard’s hopes of bouncing back into contention.

Pogacar was four seconds down on Evenepoel after 4km with the Belgian fast out of the traps on the flatter section of the ride. But once the road headed up the lower slopes of the Col de Peyresourde, Pogacar came into his element.

Twenty-three seconds quicker than Vingegaard at the second check point at 7.6km, Pogacar claimed he knocked things off a little for fear of blowing up on the double-digit finishing ramp at the altiport at Peyragudes.

It was on this infernal wall where an inspired Vingegaard shot past the fading Evenepoel, who had struggled with an earlier issue with his chain before completely blowing up on the savage home straight.

What would have usually been a stage-winning performance merely earned Vingegaard the shortest possible reign in the hotseat, however, with Pogacar making light work of the 16% gradient to knock the Dane off his perch and secure the latest win in this increasingly one-sided 112th edition of the Tour.

The gap between first and tenth continues to grow as the triple champion turns the screw on everyone else…

Onley enters the top five at the expense of Vauquelin while Lipowitz comes to within six seconds of the white jersey Evenepoel.

1 Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)
2. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +4:07
3. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) +7:24
4. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) +7:30
5. Oscar Onley (Team Picnic PostNL) +8:11
6. Kevin Vauquelin (Arkea-B&B Hotels) +8:15
7. Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) +8:50
8. Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) +10:36
9. Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +11:43
10. Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) +14:15

"I’m super happy. This time trial there was quite a big question mark already in December for me. I wanted everything to be perfect and the team delivered just at the final moments for everything to be on the top. I started the day good, I had an easy morning and wanted to do start to finish all out – to try to smash it as much as possible. I almost blew up in the end but I saw the timer on the top and it gave me an extra push because I saw that I was going to win.

"Choosing which bike to use was the biggest decision to make. Obviously, we’re racing on road bikes most of the year – 99% of the time. In the end we did the calculations and if you cannot push on a TT bike as much as on a road bike then it makes no difference. I decided to be more comfortable and I rode the last 10 stages on the same bike, so it worked for me.

"I decided to go without a radio today so I was just relying on the time checks at the time points. I saw that I was ahead in green at the first check. The second one was a bit bigger, so I knew I was doing a good time trial. I didn’t want to blow up so I reset for the final three kilometres because I wanted to come to the last steep part with good legs."

1. Tadej Pogacar 23’00"
2. Jonas Vingegaard +36"
3. Primoz Roglic +1’20"
4. Florian Lipowitz +1’56"
5. Luke Plapp +1’58"
6. Matteo Jorgenson +2’03"
7. Oscar Onley +2’06"
8. Adam Yates +2’15"
9. Lenny Martinez +2’21"
10. Felix Gall +2’22"

Wow – just wow. The man in yellow crosses the line in exactly 23 minutes – just as many had predicted – and that’s a stonking 36 seconds quicker than his nearest challenger, Vingegaard. It’s win number four at this Tour, number 21 in his Tour career, and number 103 in the pro ranks.

Pogacar punches the air with his right fist and lets out a cry of joy.

Evenepoel’s horror turns to humiliation on the final ramp as he’s caught just moments before the finish by Jonas Vingegaard, who blasts into the lead after a super-strong second half to this time trial. Will it be enough for the stage win, or will Pogacar make it four?

The Scottish climber should move above Kevin Vauquelin in the GC today. Oscar Onley is currently third at the finish, 46 seconds behind Roglic – although the big guns are still to come. The Frenchman was 1:33 down.

The Belgian has some issues with his chain and has to ease up and fiddle around a bit on the climb. So he will lose even more time than he is already losing. Could we see Lipowitz up to third today?

Roglic won’t be long in the hotseat, mind, because his former team-mate has gone 28 seconds quicker at the second check. Remco Evenepoel, however, is 55 seconds down and looks to be in a world of pain.

Then it all changes when the yellow jersey powers through a massive 23 seconds quicker than Vingegaard. Wow. He’s simply in a different league.

The Slovenian makes light work of the final ramp and crosses the line to set the new best time of 24:20. Luke Plapp has finally been beaten – and by a whopping 37 seconds by Roglic.

The German youngster is just eight seconds down on his team-mate Roglic at the second check, so he’s limiting his losses well. Roglic is the next to come to the finish after Felix Gall just failed to dislodge Luke Plapp.

Still no one can beat Luke Plapp’s stellar time. Matteo Jorgenson goes the closest but the American is +04 down at the finish.

The Dane is just three seconds down on Evenepoel at the first check – but how does this compare to Pogacar?

Well, well, well… the yellow jersey is the fastest at the first check – four seconds quicker than Evenepoel and seven seconds better than Vingegaard.

What’s more, he now has the advantage of being on a climbing bike for the climb. Win #4 incoming.

This looks more like Primoz in his prime… The Slovenian goes through the second check 30 seconds up on Jorgenson, who was one second clear of Plapp.

The Belgian is nine seconds clear of Jorgenson, 10 seconds clear of Roglic, 11 clear of Vauquelin and 12 clear of Lipowitz. But let’s wait till the Big Two come through before we extrapolate too much from that.

He’s on a special light road bike stripped of paint to make it even lighter. But he hasn’t opted for all the other aero options favoured by his rival Vingegaard. Let’s see who has made the right decision. Down the ramp in Loudenvielle he goes to start his 23 minutes of pure effort.  

Is there a way back from the two-time Tour winner from Denmark? He’s on a TT bike and has a special aero TT helmet as he bids to turn things round and recoup some of his losses from yesterday.

He destroyed the field in Caen but this time trial is very different. Off the Belgian goes in his white jersey skinsuit. Can he take a second TT win in this Tour and strengthen his place on the podium, which is under threat from Lipowitz?

The Slovenian matches Jorgenson’s time at the first check after 4km. Promising stuff for the Red Bull veteran, whose team-mate Florian Lipowitz has just started.

Kevin Vauquelin (Arkea-B&B Hotel) goes down the ramp to get his TT going. Only Lipowitz, Evenepoel, Vingegaard and Pogacar to set off now.