Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) blew the Tour de France apart on stage 12, in doing so — as if we needed any further proof — further cemented himself as the greatest cyclist of this generation, possibly of any generation. Under the merciless Pyrenean sun, Pogačar delivered what seemed like a killer blow to Hautacam, putting more than two minutes into Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike).
At 35:08, Pogačar’s ride was the second-fastest Tour ascent ever recorded on the 13.5 km, 7.8 % average climb. The only faster time remains Bjarne Riis’s notorious 34:40 from 1996, a performance later admitted to be fueled by EPO. Riis’s ride cast long shadows over Hautacam’s history. In that 1996 ascent, he shredded his rivals in ruthless fashion. Another doper, Lance Armstrong’s rain-soaked ride in 2000 was recorded at 36:19. But history now looks with disdain at the means that powered the performances of Riis and Armstrong.
More recently, Vincenzo Nibali’s 2014 ascent in 37:20 and Vingegaard’s 36:34 three years ago, sealed their own yellow jersey victories. Not only was Pogačar’s ride historic — the fastest legitimate ride up to Hautacam — but also telling for this Tour, which has left the rest of the field scrambling to salvage success. What were the stats for those chasing the world champion on the first Pyrenean stage?
Oscar Onley and Tobias Johannessen finished together at Hautacam (Image: Zac Williams/SWpix.com)
Because of the way the final climb was raced with most of the riders doing solo efforts and without the benefit of drafting behind their teammates, it’s not surprising that Pogačar didn’t manage to get the out-and-out record. The high heat and number of elevation metres before they reach the bottom of the final climb will have had an effect. Pogačar also will have had some residual pain from a crash the day before, making the performance even more remarkable.
Pogačar doesn't reveal his power data publicly on his Strava activities, but some of the riders behind him do, including Oscar Onley (Team Picnic PostNL), who is part of an exciting generation of Grand Tour talent, and finished fifth, 3:00 down on Pogačar. Onley’s Strava activity shows he produced an average of 362W on the final climb, with a maximum of 848W. After over four hours of racing, which included the Col du Soulor, which he pushed 359W for 33 minutes, the Scot’s effort on the Hautacam required an average heart rate of 180bpm (with a maximum of 186). It’s estimated that his two efforts were around 6W/kg and his average weighted power over the whole day was estimated to be 298W.
The rider who finished with Onley was Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility), who also revealed his power and heart rate data on his Strava. Unsurprisingly, considering they finished together, the Norwegian produced similar power to Onley, with an average of 369W which required an average heart rate of 181bpm.
Both Onley and Johannessen put 0:33 into rival top-five challenger Kévin Vauquelin, who came sixth on the stage. The Frenchman who has had an excellent Tour so far, is heavier than Onley and Johannessen and this is reflected in his stats on the climb to Hautacam and the Col du Soulor beforehand where he averaged 389W and 386W respectively, according to his Strava activity.
To finish three minutes ahead of both Onley and Johannessen, Pogačar is likely to have produced around 6.7W/kg, which although impressive was not as historic as his performance on Plateau de Beille last year where he was estimated to have done at least 6.9W/kg. But this Tour has plenty of stages to go for Pogačar to produce similar performances. Once a weakness that Visma exploited in 2022 and 2023, Pogačar’s long climbing is his biggest asset, and is unmatchable.
With Pogačar in this form, we could see more historic rides. One of the key climbs of this Tour is coming up on stage 16 as the peloton tackles Mont Ventoux. It could be a stage ripe for some record breaking as it is the only climb on the route, meaning the riders will be relatively fresh going into the ascent and the teams could give their leaders a full lead out.
