Tadej Pogacar reclaimed the leader's yellow jersey at the Tour de France with an imperious stage 12 triumph on the Hautacam mountain in the Pyrénées on Thursday.
Pogacar skipped away on an 11km solo ascent of the fabled climb to finish 2min 10sec ahead of key rival Jonas Vingegaard while overnight leader Ben Healy wilted to a 13min deficit on the day.
French president Emmanuel Macron was on hand at the mountaintop finish to congratulate the Slovenian Team UAE rider.
Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel dug deep after being dropped on the first of three climbs to claw back level, before eventually losing 3min 35sec on the day's 180.6km ride from Auch, finishing seventh.
In the overall standings Pogacar now leads the Tour de France by 3min 31sec over Denmark's Vingegaard while Evenepoel is third at a daunting 4min 45sec.
Pogacar said after the race his team had been secretly targeting this stage for some time.
"The plan was to win this stage," he said.
"I'm super happy to take time and win on this particular climb," said the 26-year-old, who fell heavily on stage 11.
"You don't know how your body reacts after a crash. It wasn't so bad. The team did a super job," he said.
The champion had kind words for Irishman Healy, who had a bruising day himself.
"Healy tried, he showed big spirit. It was hard for everybody today," said Pogacar.
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He also dedicated this win to Italian junior cyclist Samuele Privitera, who died aged 19 following a fall at this week's Tour of the Aoste Valley-Mont Blanc.
"I was thinking of him in the final kilometre. This sport can be so hard. It's so sad," Pogacar said.
Friday's stage 13 could shake up the standings again as it is an unforgiving individual time trial, mainly uphill, that the Slovenian has been looking forward to.
"The race isn't over, just look at the next few stages and then there's next week too," said Pogacar.
Pogacar also took over the polka dot king of the mountain jersey while Jonathan Milan has the green sprint jersey and Evenepoel the best under-25's white jersey.
Overnight leader Healy took a beating on his second day defending the yellow jersey. The EF rider slipped off the pace on the first climb while doggedly trying to limit his losses.
Having described his time in yellow as a "whirlwind", Healy is now eleventh, over 13 minutes behind Pogacar.
There were three mountains on the menu Thursday as the peloton entered the Pyrénées with the first the Col de Soulor climb with 11.8km at 7.3 percent.
A shorter Col de Borderes 3km ascent at 7.7 percent preceded Pogacar's awesome attack on the fabled Hautacam, 13.6km at 7.8 percent.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
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