Time and again this season, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) has stood head and shoulders above any of his so-called rivals. But on a day of relentless climbing in stage 11 of the Tour de France, the hitherto seemingly unimaginable scenario finally happened - and after Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) beat Pogačar in a two-up sprint - the fuse had finally been lit on a dramatic GC battle between the Danish defending champion and the Slovenian star.
When the Tour de France leader pulled away from the rest of the overall contenders 500 metres from the summit of Le Puy Mary Pas de Peyrol, it had all the feel of an attack by Pogačar that could leave the Tour decided with nearly half of the race left to go.
But instead of the Massif Central mountains witnessing a repeat of the Pogačar runaway attack to Tignes in 2021, Vingegaard clawed his way back into contention on the category 2 Col de Pertus that followed, ultimately overhauling Pogačar for the stage victory.
While Pogačar insisted later that the double-defending Tour de France champion is very much “in the form of his life”, the jury may be out on that particular question and Vingegaard himself denies it.
But in either case, after Pogačar´s first defeat by his arch-rival Vingegaard in this year's Tour, and one of just a tiny handful of setbacks this season, the GC race is no longer - as at some points it has seemed - flowing irresistibly in the Slovenian’s favour.
“It was a sprint after a tough, tough day and he was five centimetres faster than me, chapeau to him,” Pogačar told reporters about his shock defeat.
“Now everybody sees he is in the best shape of career, now we can say it’s a fair fight. In my opinion, if the fans were watching, this was one of the best stages of the race.
“Of course, I’m a bit disappointed, but I still had a good day out, particularly in the heat. I´m satisfied with the day I had and so hats off to Jonas, but there will be more opportunities.”
While Vingegaard´s comeback appears to be going from strength to strength, Pogačar said that his own strategy had been to go all out on the Puy Mary, a climb where he holds the record for the fastest ascent since the 2020 Tour de France, and then try to stay away alone to the finish.
“I just wanted to go for it because I know this climb really well, rather than making a gap on the descent that followed. I thought I could go all the way to the finish, like on the Galibier, but Jonas was really good on the second-last climb.”
Pogačar’s move on the Puy Mary looked to be a knock-out blow, but then on the following ascent, he did not seem to be moving as smoothly or with nearly as much conviction. To cap it all, the Slovenian said, not knowing how far he had to the finish left him feeling “a bit confused".
On the other hand, Vingegaard was “really flying”. After looking back and catching sight of the Danish star in hot pursuit, Pogačar said he “waited for him, rested a bit".
"Maybe it would have been better to go over the limit to try and keep the gap on the climb. But he was going really well," Pogačar admitted. "Well, on the downhill, I felt pretty good, until one corner, my bike went really sideways. I was maybe spending too much energy before the start of second climb, but I still went good.
"And then I wait for him just because I knew that in any case, he will come back even after the top. So I try to recover a bit, take the bonus seconds and try to play for the sprint in the end."
A few kilometres further on, Pogačar was left reeling by Vingegaard´s final sprint for the line.
The UAE Team Emirates leader remains very much in control of GC, and thanks to his attack has pushed his closest rival Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) to over a minute’s disadvantage. It also shouldn’t be forgotten that it’s not the first time he´s lost a small group sprint on a hilly stage of a race this year. On stage 1 of the Giro d’Italia, Pogačar put in a blistering attack on the final climb, only to be outpowered in the dash for the line by Jhonatan Narvaez (Ineos Grenadiers).
However, Pogačar was more than able to put the record straight the following day at Oropa, taking an overall lead that he would never relinquish all the way to Rome. This time round when it came to rivals, he said, things between himself and Vingegaard were much more evenly matched right now.
“At one point in this stage, one of us was better, at another it was another one,” he argued. “We were pretty equal all round.
"The Pyrenees, it's different racing than today. In Pyrenees, it’s bigger climbs, a different style of racing. I'm more prepared for that kind of racing than what was today.
“We will see what happens in the really high mountains, but for now, we’re more or less on a similar level.”
Get unlimited access to all of our coverage of the Tour de France - including breaking news and analysis reported by our journalists on the ground from every stage of the race as it happens and more. Find out more.
