It was a historic day in the Tour de France. For the first time in 35 years, the peloton climbed the Puy de Dôme. At the start of the stage, it looked like the fourteen-rider breakaway group would fight for the stage win as their lead quickly grew to about fifteen minutes. Michael Woods won the stage.

A few minutes behind that group, Team Jumbo-Visma took the initiative. Wilco Kelderman, Wout van Aert and Sepp Kuss rode in the service of their leader. After Kuss had to give up on the steep sections in the final kilometres, it was up to the favourites to battle it out. Pogacar accelerated and had Vingegaard on his wheel, but eventually, the Slovenian proved too strong. However, Vingegaard refused to give in and stayed within a few metres of Pogacar. The difference on the line was small.

"Tadej was a little stronger at the end today”, Vingegaard admitted. "Of course, this is his favourite terrain. I managed to limit the difference to eight seconds. Luckily I'm still in the yellow jersey. We have to work hard over the next two weeks to take the jersey to Paris. It's an intense battle at the moment. The Puy de Dôme is a pretty tough climb. The last few kilometres are quite steep. There is no time for a breather. It wasn't my best day on the bike. Tomorrow's rest day is welcome, but that will be the case for everyone. I think my best days are still to come in this Tour de France.”

Vingegaard continued: “When we studied the route of this Tour de France, we quickly concluded that the second and third weeks contain several stages that suit me well. In the first block up until the rest day, this was not so much the case. The fact that we now have the yellow jersey is more than satisfactory. I would have preferred to be on Tadej's wheel for the last two mountain stages, but I can live with the way this Tour de France is going. Everyone was at their limit today. I gave everything I had, not least because my family was up on the mountain.”

Kelderman and his teammates took the initiative in the bunch of favourites and did an excellent job. "I think we rode excellently. We made the race hard on the final climb. Together with Wout and Sepp, we accelerated on this brutal but beautiful climb. In the end, Jonas lost a few seconds, but we don’t worry too much about it. This course is not tailor-made for him. It suits Pogacar much more. Jonas prefers some long and hard climbs. That kind of terrain is coming up in the Alps. First, we will enjoy the rest day with the team. They are always welcome during a grand tour”, Kelderman said.

"We decided to give the breakaway some space”, said sports director Grischa Niermann, explaining the battle plan. "In terms of the standings, this group lacked notable competitors. But we wanted to keep the pace high from the start on the final climb. Pogacar finally attacked with just over a kilometre to go. Of course we would have preferred to gain time, but we can live with this minimal gap. It was not a typical mountain stage; we saved our legs all day for a relatively short effort on the final climb. This stage suited Pogacar a little better than Jonas, but for us it was not a stage that could have made a big difference. We are in an excellent position at the moment. The guys are all healthy and in good shape. We are looking forward to the remaining two weeks”, Niermann said.