"For the final victory it will be between the two riders" - UAE DS acknowledges Tadej Pogacar's main opponent in Jonas Vingegaard

UAE Team Emirates did everything in their might to put pressure on Jonas Vingegaard in a lead up to Puy Mary. And it seemed to work when Tadej Pogacar unleashed his horses on the steepest parts of the climb, as the Slovenian quickly opened a noticeable gap. And when the advantage passed half minute mark in the descent, it seemed like game over. However Vingegaard was eventually able to crawl back and even outsprint Pogacar for the stage win.

Are there any regrets in Pogacar's team? "This is not a war," explained Joxean Matxin after the stage to Cyclism'Actu. "We had a tactic, we had this plan, with an attack to defend our yellow jersey, it was not a surprise, it was normal. It was a perfect stage for Tadej, he feels really good and we put our plan in place, Nils Politt, Tim Wellens, Pavel Sivakov and Marc Soler, and finally, Adam Yates before the attack. He managed to distance Jonas."

However, contrary to UAE's plans, Vingegaard was strong enough to nullify the move on the next climb. "But Jonas recovered well, he came back, but Tadej took the bonuses. In the end, Vingegaard managed to beat Tadej in the sprint, so congratulations to him," Matxin sends a 'chapeau' to the Dane.

"Today, Jonas was better in the final but the battle continues, Tadej is second today. He also has a bigger gap from the other riders, but for the final victory it will certainly still be the two riders of the last four years who will continue to fight," is the tactician's prognose. Tadej still holds an advantage of 74 second over Vingegaard after Wednesday's stage.