Vingegaard praises UAE and Pogacar, and dismisses yellow jersey conspiracy: "That's not why we attacked"

The plan was to have a man in the breakaway, but that wasn't for the stage win at first. “We wanted a good man in the breakaway, and we got Simon there,” Vingegaard told Eurosport after the stage. “It's fantastic that he won the stage; I'm very happy for him. It was a great day for us with the stage win, but also for me. I'm happy with how my legs felt, so I can say it was a good day.”

Visma | Lease a Bike really intensified the battle in the difficult final to Mont-Dore. Matteo Jorgenson and Sepp Kuss tried to break away, but they were repeatedly countered by Pogacar himself or one of his domestiques. “Of course, UAE had a strong team, but Pogacar had to do some work himself. They were very strong and defended very well. They did a good job; hats off to them.”

Did the Killer Bees want to keep the yellow jersey away from their Slovenian rival's shoulders? "That's not why we attacked. We just wanted to increase the pressure. Of course, if he stayed in yellow, he would have to do the podium ceremony every day. That takes some energy, but we're not thinking about that. We stuck to our plans, which was to put pressure on UAE."

So what are the conclusions after a tough but ultimately inconclusive day? “That we have a strong team and that my legs are good.” Did Vingegaard suffer at all? "No... Of course, yes!“ he jokes. ”It was a tough day, up and down all day. I'm just pleased with how it went today, with Simon winning and how I felt." Yates beat a disappointed Thymen Arensman in the difficult final kilometer.

So far, Pogacar has not been able to break away from Vingegaard. There were enough opportunities in the first week, but the world champion was unable to make a difference on his favorite terrain. He did gain a lot of time on the Dane in the time trial; who knows: “Of course, I have to make up time somewhere, but so far, I've been able to follow all his attacks, which I couldn't do in the Dauphiné. That shows that my level is higher than it was then.”

After the race, team leader Grischa Niermann explained the idea behind the challenging climb. “The plan was to go for the stage win but also to send guys ahead. We wanted to make the race hard, and I think we did well. In the end, we're leaving here with a stage win, which is great because it's tough to win stages in the Tour de France. We have one with Simon and with the whole team.”

Visma | Lease a Bike has a stage win, but they haven't managed to make up time on Tadej Pogacar yet. Not that they didn't try: Jorgenson was particularly active, attacking several times. But UAE Team Emirates - XRG held steady on track despite missing João Almeida, who had to abandon the race. Has the Dutch team already encountered weaknesses in their rivals? “No, certainly not in Tadej,” the German said clearly.

Victor Campenaerts played an essential role from the early breakaway. "The signal came from the car that Simon had to go for the stage win; I had to wait at the top of the last hill," the Belgian told Sporza. Yates eventually won the stage. “I saw for myself how Tadej didn't let himself be surprised, which isn't easy. It would have been nice if he had been dropped, and I could have had my turn, but that was not the case. We can only try and execute our plan.”

Ben Healy took over the yellow jersey, although UAE Team Emirates - XRG didn't think that was a big deal. “It wasn't to our disadvantage that Ben Healy went all out for yellow, but I might have preferred UAE to be more reckless and start riding like crazy behind us. Of course, they also knew it wouldn't work if they tried to control the race until there was a breakaway without Visma riders.”