Tadej pogacar regained control of the 2025 Tour de France by winning the 7th stage, which concluded at the top of the famous Mûr-de-Bretagne hill. A finish tailored for punchers, the dominant Slovenian edged out Jonas Vingegaard and Oscar Onley after a sprint fought in a small group of favorites. With this victory, Pogacar regained the yellow jersey, which he had lost the day before to Mathieu Van der Poel by just one second.
This nearly 200-kilometer stage between Saint-Malo and Mûr-de-Bretagne was initially animated by a five-man breakaway, including former Tour winner Geraint Thomas and Breton Ewen Costiou. Their attempt, while valiant, never troubled a peloton closely controlled by the UAE Emirates team, determined to put Pogacar back in the lead of the general classification.
The first passage up the Mûr-de-Bretagne hill already gave some clues about the forces in play. Mathieu Van der Poel, who started in the yellow jersey, showed signs of weakness as he was dropped on the climb, before catching up on the descent. But the second climb proved fatal for the Dutchman, who was dropped from the first slopes and dropped to more than a minute in the general classification at the finish. On the contrary, Pogacar benefited from the tremendous work of his teammate Tim Wellens, who set a hellish pace from the foot of the final climb.
A massive crash in the peloton 5 km from the finish
Five kilometers from the finish, a massive crash disrupted part of the peloton. It involved several key riders, including Joao Almeida, Pogacar's valuable teammate, as well as outsiders like Ben Healy, Enric Mas, Santiago Buitrago, Valentin Madouas, and Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet. Almeida was able to continue, visibly injured but with no apparent fracture, which could have consequences in the upcoming mountain stages.
On the decisive climb, only Vingegaard and Evenepoel were able to keep up with Pogačar's initial acceleration. A partial regrouping took place as the gradient eased, allowing Oscar Onley and a few others to rejoin in the final. But in the sprint, Pogačar was the most explosive, winning clearly and reasserting his control over the early stages of the Tour.
In the general classification, Tadej Pogacar regains first place, 54 seconds ahead of Remco Evenepoel and 1 minute 11 seconds ahead of Frenchman Kévin Vauquelin, who finished a solid 7th place on the stage. Jonas Vingegaard climbs back to 4th place, while Mathieu Van der Poel drops below fifth. This strong performance by the Slovenian redefines the balance of the peloton as we head into a calmer weekend before the mountains early next week.
