Fasten your seatbelts: Here’s what Pogacar, Vingegaard, Visma, and Evenepoel say about "the toughest day of the Tour"

Pogacar did not have much to say after day 9. UAE Team Emirates-XRG had to swallow a bitter pill with the withdrawal of João Almeida, which means that Monday's 165.3-kilometer ride with eight climbs and 4,307 meters of elevation gain does not come at the perfect time. “It will be a big national holiday for France, but also a big celebration for cycling! We are arriving at Mont-Dore, which is an iconic climb for the Tour,” Pogacar said cheerfully.

“A bit like the Mûr-de-Bretagne. A lot can happen there, and I hope it will be a big victory,” UAE boss Mauro Gianetti hinted at a day for the classification. Pogacar ultimately won stage 7 on the Mûr-de-Bretagne and can, therefore, strike if he is still at the front. Cyclingnews quoted the Slovenian as he tried to unravel the tactics for the grueling stage. “Now we don't have João, maybe we'll follow.”

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“I definitely expect there to be a battle between the GC contenders. We're ready,” said Jonas Vingegaard when asked. Victor Campenaerts called stage 10 at HLN “A tough ride and even the most difficult day of the entire Tour,” and sports director Grischa Niermann understood that assumption. "The eighteenth stage to Col de la Loze is the hardest of this Tour. Then comes the fourteenth stage to Superbagnères. Today's stage could well be called the third hardest."

"No really long climbs, but it's almost nowhere flat. It's definitely going to be a battlefield," said Niermann. The German sounded eager. “If we see opportunities, we'll take them. We hope that Pogacar will suffer a meltdown somewhere in this Tour, and as far as I'm concerned, that can be on Monday.” Outsider Matteo Jorgenson told Cyclingnews: “Tomorrow, I expect that it will be a very key and decisive stage. The first mountains we've seen in the Tour de France are always a big explosion. And we'll see big, big time gap.”

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Behind the battle between Pogacar and Vingegaard and UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Visma | Lease a Bike, Evenepoel also seems ready to get involved. “It's a stage for the climbers, and we'll see if UAE wants to go for the win. They're not necessarily the hardest stages, and the differences won't be that significant, but we can't afford to lose any time here. I can't wait to start this battle; it's going to be interesting, explosive, and maybe even surprising,” he said.

Surprising? Yes, because Evenepoel has good legs and, after the time trial on day 5, he wants to use them for more than just defending, he said at HLN. “It's a stage that suits me perfectly, and I'm looking forward to it. If my legs are good, I want to go for it.”