Vingegaard and Pogacar were the only ones who could follow the scorching pace of Brandon McNulty, Pogacar’s teammate, on the penultimate climb. On the Peyragudes, McNulty brought the two rivals to the line. Although Vingegaard launched the sprint, Pogacar won.

"Of course I would have liked to win the stage, but a finish like this just suits him better”, Vingegaard said. "It was a fight today and I am happy I could follow Pogacar and McNulty. It isn’t nice to be isolated on the penultimate climb, but I definitely can't blame the guys. They worked hard."

Sprts director Grischa Niermann saw that Vingegaard had good legs again. "Jonas lost four seconds, but he held up well. We can be satisfied with the second place and the level that Jonas has shown. Of course we had hoped he would win the stage, but this finish was perfect for Pogacar."

With one challenging Pyrenees stage to go, things are starting to look brighter and brighter for Vingegaard. However, the Dane does not want to look too far ahead. "I take it day by day. Tomorrow Pogacar will try again and then it's up to me to follow him. Tomorrow's climb is longer and suits me better."

Wout van Aert virtually secured his green jersey earlier in the day. "This morning, I didn't know I could secure the jersey already. But at the intermediate sprint, there was no breakaway yet so that I could take the points quite easily”, Van Aert said.

The green jersey holder doesn't want to celebrate too soon. "I still have to stay on my bike and make it to Paris. If I can wear that jersey on Sunday night, I have achieved my goal. Of course I would be very proud of that."