On the third gravel sector of the day, Vingegaard was unlucky with a puncture. Vingegaard immediately saw Jan Tratnik hand over his bike, allowing the two-time Tour de France winner to continue on his way. 

Wout van Aert, Christophe Laporte and Matteo Jorgenson also did well for Vingegaard. Tadej Pogacar attacked on the white French roads, but thanks to the work of the trio, Vingegaard never really got into trouble. In the end, the Dane crossed the line in a group that included all the favorites. 

Vingegaard was relieved afterwards, "I am very happy to have crossed the line safely in the same time as my main rivals. Especially with the knowledge that bad luck didn't completely spare me today. Jan's accurate handling allowed me to quickly jump on his bike. He has a similar sized bike, which allowed me to continue on my way without any problems. I am incredibly grateful to him, as well as the rest of the team. All day we were in a good position. When we turned onto the gravel sectors we were always ideally positioned. It was a stressful day for the whole peloton, but we got through it fine. Tadej was the strongest individual today, but Team Visma | Lease a Bike was a very strong team," the Dane praised the collective. 

"This was a nice demonstration of teamwork," says sports director Grischa Niermann. "We had a moment of bad luck due to a flat tire on Jonas, but we all stayed calm at that point. Jan was close to Jonas, and we knew he could swap bikes. Because Jonas and Jan have the same saddle height, Jonas was able to finish the ride on his bike. Unfortunately, we did lose Jan as a result, and Tiesj Benoot also had a puncture. We were under a lot of pressure, but we fought through everything with strong team play. At the time of the puncture, the team car was about three minutes behind Jonas because of the commotion. If Jan hadn't been around Jonas, we probably wouldn't be so satisfied. Now fortunately only the good feeling prevails."