Tadej Pogačar seized control of the 2025 Tour de France with a devastating ride on stage 12 to Hautacam, dismantling his rivals on the first proper high-mountain showdown of this year’s race. The Slovenian didn’t just reclaim the yellow jersey – he redefined the balance of power, riding away from Jonas Vingegaard on the final climb and putting daylight, certainty, and symbolism into his GC lead.
From the moment the peloton hit the Pyrenees, this stage was always going to be pivotal. A rolling 180.6km from Auch to the summit of Hautacam, it featured three categorised climbs and a long approach into the final climb that invited ambushes, attrition, or annihilation. What unfolded was the latter – a tour de force from Pogačar, executed by a team that now looks peerless.
Fast start, frantic break, little reward
The day began aggressively, with attacks flying from the flag. A group of more than 50 riders eventually broke clear, with Carlos Rodríguez the most dangerous on GC. He was joined by teammates Swift, Laurance, Foss, and Arensman, giving Ineos Grenadiers numerical strength. Visma-Lease a Bike placed Tiesj Benoot up the road, UAE Team Emirates had Tim Wellens, and Uno-X and EF Education-EasyPost were also active.
Their presence was short-lived. The peloton kept the leash tight, thanks largely to Wellens and Politt riding tempo for UAE. Bruno Armirail later broke clear solo from what was left of the break, but the gap was held under control. There would be no repeat of Pogačar gifting a stage to a breakaway – this one was earmarked.
The first test came on the Col du Soulor – a 12km climb averaging 7.8%. Visma-Lease a Bike upped the pace early and it took a toll. Remco Evenepoel was distanced 7km from the summit. Ben Healy, who had started the day in yellow, was dropped shortly after. The race was splintering.
Evenepoel managed to descend back into contention, but it was a warning sign. For Healy, the loss of the yellow jersey was sealed well before the final climb. Visma kept the pace high through the Col des Borderes and into the Hautacam, but the effort came at a cost – Matteo Jorgenson and Simon Yates both cracked. Their aggressive pacing had only helped deliver Pogačar to the base of the final climb.
Photo Credit: A.S.O./Billy CeustersHaute Pogačar
Hautacam is 13.3km at 7.8%, but that average hides its irregularity – sections at 11%, brief dips, then more ramps into the clouds. UAE took over with 13km to go, unleashing the first hammer blow via Jhonatan Narváez. The Ecuadorian lit up the bottom of the climb, shedding what remained of the front group. Marc Soler soon followed, then Adam Yates, each playing their role in the softening-up process.
With 12km to go, Pogačar launched. Seated, composed, almost calm – but it was lethal. Vingegaard tried to follow but within 500 metres the gap had opened and the elastic was snapping. There were no explosive accelerations or twitchy glances back – Pogačar simply rode his tempo and pulled away.
He caught and passed Armirail like a motorbike overtaking a Vespa, then never looked back. It was a solo mountain time trial, and one delivered in his rainbow jersey, on a climb that had haunted him since 2022 – the scene of his Tour defeat to Vingegaard. There would be no such pain this time.
By the 5km mark, the time gap was approaching a minute. By the summit, it was 2:10.
Behind, Vingegaard fought alone. There were no teammates to aid his chase, no shelter, no plan B. Visma-Lease a Bike had simply run out of options.
A performance with perspective
Pogačar crossed the line after 35 minutes and 8 seconds of climbing – the second-fastest time ever on Hautacam, only 30 seconds slower than Bjarne Riis in 1996. He obliterated Vingegaard’s 2022 time by 1:27. At the finish, he offered no exuberant salute – just a point to the sky in tribute to Samuele Privitera, the 19-year-old Italian rider who died the day before in the Giro della Valle d’Aosta.
“It was the first thing I read in the morning,” Pogačar said. “I was thinking in the last kilometre about him and how tough this sport can be. This win is for him.”
His humility aside, Pogačar also spoke with clarity about his own form.
“Based on my feeling, I feel at the best moment of my career,” he said. “I’m riding in the rainbow jersey, I ride with an amazing team, amazing teammates, so it’s like a fairytale. Now is the peak of my career – the last two, three years – and I try to hold it as long as I can.”
There was no false modesty. No hedging. He knows what this performance meant.
Behind the carnage, podium race takes shape
Further back, Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) took third on the stage and vaulted into fourth overall. Tobias Halland Johannessen and Oscar Onley battled it out for fourth on the day, both riding with maturity beyond their years. Kévin Vauquelin paced himself into fifth overall, and even as Evenepoel cracked on both climbs, he did enough to hold onto third place for now.
Roglič, who rode within himself and limited losses, remains in the top 10, but clearly lacks the legs to compete for the win. Instead, the battle for the final podium place is likely to be a carousel of names, with Evenepoel, Lipowitz, Vauquelin, Onley and Johannessen all within two minutes of each other.
But barring disaster, the yellow jersey is spoken for.
Pogačar leads Vingegaard by 3:31. That margin is the biggest after 12 stages since… Pogačar himself in 2021. He won that race too.
There are nine stages left, but few could have watched the final 13km of stage 12 and seen anything but a fourth Tour de France title coming into view. Pogačar climbed Hautacam not just to win the stage, but to bury the memories of 2022, assert his supremacy, and take ownership of this Tour.
2025 Tour de France Stage 12 result
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
Main photo credit: Getty
