With two kilometers left on the last climb up to the finish in Tignes at an altitude of 2107 meters, Pogacar took off from the competitors in the pursuit of the overall victory and distanced them by just over half a minute and finished sixth on the 145 km long ninth stage in fog and rain.
He was six minutes behind the winner Ben O'Connor who won the stage by over five minutes.
Australian O'Connor was also rewarded with finishing second overall and is now competing for the yellow leader jersey.
He is 2.01 behind Pogacar who extended the distance to second with 13 seconds.
"Worried that Tadej would explode"
- It is a dream to just drive here and to be able to win is another dream.
I can not understand it.
I can barely control myself now.
I was worried that Tadej would explode and come from behind, but I had faith in myself, says a moved O'Connor in the victory interview.
What looked controlled by Pogacar in the TV pictures contained some drama.
- O'Connor was super strong today.
It was a fantastic run by him.
I was a little afraid of losing the leader jersey and that was why I increased the speed at the end.
I like this shirt, says Pogacar according to the Tour de France's Twitter.