Roglic has caught up with Vauquelin and has Onley in sight: "They've pushed me a bit too hard"

The fact that Onley and Vauquelin entered the sixteenth day of the Tour in fourth and fifth place in the GC was already a miracle in itself. But even after Mont Ventoux, both men are still in excellent shape. The trend of Vauquelin slowly but surely fading was confirmed when he finished just under four minutes behind stage winner Valentin Paret-Peintre. But the Frenchman from Arkéa-B&B Hotels certainly did not collapse and can therefore continue to dream of a place in the top ten.

“At one point, I was really at my limit, as has often been the case lately,” Vauquelin analyzed honestly after the race in the French media. "When they started attacking, I tried to find my rhythm, but I was struggling mentally. Ewan (Costiou, ed.) did a great job, and in the final phase, Raul (Pierna, ed.) took over, allowing us to finish strong. I really tried to limit the damage. I had never done the Mont Ventoux and such a long climb before. It hurt."

Unlike Vauquelin, Onley said he felt “pretty good.” The 22-year-old British rider was able to keep up with the first chasers from Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe for quite a while, but in the final phase he lost a good half minute to Roglic and Lipowitz. “This was good for my confidence, to hear that people are dropping back when you still feel good. When Vingegaard and Pogacar went, it became a battle with the BORA guys.”

“Well done to them, they played it smart and pushed me a bit too hard at the end,” smiled Onley, who now has a 38-second lead over Roglic in the battle for fourth place. “I'm mainly looking at those two, because Lipowitz is less than Vingegaard and Pogacar, but better than the rest. So Roglic doesn't necessarily have to help him and can focus on gaining time on me.” Picnic PostNL team leader Matt Winston agreed in a press release: “Oscar put in a strong performance on the Ventoux, and I think we can be proud of both his effort and the team’s work overall. We’re still in a good position in the GC, with plenty left to fight for in this final week.”