The overnight leader, Ireland’s Ben Healy, meanwhile, dropped to a 13-minute gap by the end of the day.

In the overall classification, Pogačar now holds a 3 minute 31 second advantage over Visma’s Vingegaard, with Evenepoel third, trailing by an intimidating 4 minutes 45 seconds.

‘Like a fairytale’

“It was really hot on the final climb but I was feeling excellent,” he explained, describing how he broke away from the 12-competitor group still attempting to keep pace at the start of the last ascent.

Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar has taken the yellow jersey after the 12th stage of the Tour de France cycling race. Source: AAP / Mosa’ab Elshamy/AP

He also offered a broader explanation.

Pogačar admitted at the finish line his team had been secretly targeting this stage for some time.

“You don’t know how your body reacts after a crash. It wasn’t so bad. The team did a super job.”

Tough day for Irishman

“The race isn’t over, just look at the next few stages and then there’s next week too,” he said.

The 12th stage of the Tour de France cycling race is180.6km from Auch to Hautacam. Source: AAP / Martin Divisek / EPA

Pogačar also took over the polka dot king of the mountain jersey while Jonathan Milan has the green sprint jersey and Evenepoel the white jersey as the best young rider.