Race's phoney war gets dose of reality as crucial mountains hove into view

There is always a sense of phoney war in the run-in to the Tour de France's first stage in the high mountains, and at least one debate of the opening 10 days of this year's race fits that context to a T.

- William Fotheringham

Has Jonas Vingegaard's Visma-Lease a Bike team at times been towing the bunch deliberately in order to ensure that Tadej Pogacar retains the yellow jersey? It's a gloriously arcane question, the kind that only comes up in the Tour's opening phase, but it distracts from a point that could be key in the next 10 days: how the two teams manage the race will probably be decisive.

Firstly, a brief explainer. The received wisdom in cycling lore is that holding the yellow jersey early in a Grand Tour can be as much a curse as a blessing, because the daily media and podium duties cut into recovery time. Hence the thinking goes that Visma might have been chasing down the odd move purposely to keep Pogacar in the maillot jaune, so that he will be answering media questions and hanging about waiting to go on the podium, while Vingegaard has his feet up. Only Visma's management know if this was the case, but what is certain is that the febrile atmosphere between the two teams will intensify from here on in.

In that context, Monday's slog through the Massif Central was a score draw between the two armadas. Pogacar could afford to lose yellow to Ben Healy of Ireland as it buys his UAE team some down time at least today and tomorrow, when Healy's EF squad will have to control the race. On the other hand, Simon Yates's opportunistic stage win on Monday redressed the balance a little in favour of Visma; at this stage of the Tour, any amount of positive momentum is welcome.