What were they up to and what are they still planning? Jonas Vingegaard reflects after the toughest Tour stage of his career

He launched his first big punch on the Madeleine, hoping to shake off his biggest rival and yellow jersey wearer Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates-XRG), but the Slovenian didn’t even flinch. As a result, the group came back together on the descent and into the valley leading to the base of La Loze, where the much-anticipated duel failed to materialize.

For appearance’s sake, Vingegaard tried one last acceleration with a kilometer to go, but it lacked any real punch. Pogacar countered with ease and ultimately gained another nine seconds on the Dane. The stage win went to Jayco AlUla’s Ben O’Connor, who had attacked from the breakaway.

"It was a brutal day," Vingegaard gasped. "Five hours in the saddle, I don’t know if I’ve ever ridden a Tour stage this tough. Towards the final climb, we didn’t really want to work together anymore, so we decided to wait for my teammates."

"I felt good, and the team did too," said the current second place in the general classification. "There were big plans to start early. We did that, but unfortunately, I couldn’t drop Tadej. The team was fantastic. Everyone was 100% behind the plan, and I have to thank all of them for that. It gives me so much emotion," he added, praising his teammates, from Edoardo Affini to Sepp Kuss.

Friday’s stage to La Plagne is still ahead, but can Vingegaard close the five-minute gap? "It seemed like we were pretty evenly matched today, Pogacar only took a few seconds in the end. The Tour isn’t over yet," he concluded, still clearly motivated.