Tour titans trade mighty blows

The battle between Vingegaard and Pogačar at the Tour de France is set up perfectly for the Alps

- Adam Becket  

There was a sense of deflation after stage five of this year’s Tour de France. On the first real mountain test, Jumbo Visma’s Jonas Vingegaard, the defending champion, had put a significant amount of time into his main rival, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates).

There was a fear that the race was already over, that the Dane would be too dominant. As Pogačar himself said the next day, if the same thing happened again, he might as well pack his bags and go home.

Fortunately for him, and the race, the Slovenian came alive on stage six, putting time into Vingegaard in response. On stage nine, on the mythical Puy de Dôme, Pogačar put yet more time into his rival, reducing his race lead to just 17 seconds. Vingegaard might have the yellow jersey, but the contest feels alive.

“It’s not the victory but it is a small victory, so I’m super happy today,” Pogačar said after the stage, having gained eight seconds on Vingegaard.

“It was a super-nice day, quite relaxed until the last climb. My legs immediately felt good, but I was waiting for the last 1.5km, just in case, but I had good legs.”

Vingegaard refused to sound deflated post-race, although the fact that Pogačar is hot on his heels must give him serious pause for thought.