Tour de France: Pyrenees provided predictable GC in an unexpected manner

Tour de France: Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard on stage 6
Tour de France: Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard on stage 6 (Image credit: Getty Images)

Cauterets has hosted finishes of the Tour de France on a not-so-regular basis since the 1950s and the town has never been one to decide the race. In 1953, Louison Bobet was still nine days away from securing yellow, while 36 years later Laurent Fignon and Greg LeMond were trading the race lead every few days.

The race's last two visits – in 1995 and 2015 – saw Miguel Indurain and Chris Froome almost three minutes clear of anyone else at the top of the general classification. This time around, on the earliest visit to the Pyrenean peak, it's still any Tour de France overall contender's game, so long as you're named Jonas Vingegaard or Tadej Pogačar.

Dani Ostanek
Senior News Writer

Dani Ostanek is Senior News Writer at Cyclingnews, joining in 2017 as a freelance contributor and later being hired full-time. Before joining the team, they had written for numerous major publications in the cycling world, including CyclingWeekly and Rouleur.

Dani has reported from the world's top races, including the Tour de France, Road World Championships, and the spring Classics. They have interviewed many of the sport's biggest stars, including Mathieu van der Poel, Demi Vollering, and Remco Evenepoel. Their favourite races are the Giro d'Italia, Strade Bianche and Paris-Roubaix.

Season highlights from the 2024 season include reporting from Paris-Roubaix –  'Unless I'm in an ambulance, I'm finishing this race' – Cyrus Monk, the last man home at Paris-Roubaix – and the Tour de France – 'Disbelief', gratitude, and family – Mark Cavendish celebrates a record-breaking Tour de France sprint win.