"I admire that Pogacar is willing to make efforts to win this Tour from a far" - Bernard Thevenet enjoys the unique rivalry between Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar

The duel between Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard on Wednesday made for one of the more entertaining Tour de France stages in a long time. Two-time Tour champion Bernard Thevenet claims he has never seen a rivalry such as the one between the winners of last four editions of Grande Boucle.

"When Pogacar attacked, we were afraid he was about to kill the overall standings," he told AFP on Thursday. "But then we saw that Vingegaard was up to it and not only that, but that they were ready to work together to get rid of the other two."

But Thevenet feels this rivalry has been somewhat put aside in face of the threat of a broader field of favourites. "You got the feeling they wanted a mano-a-mano like the good old days, so that later they could fight it out between themselves," Thevenet smiled.

"Evenepoel and Roglic may have expected to find an ally in Vingegaard," he explained. "But it hasn't turned out that way at all, instead he allied himself with Pogacar." The pair ended stage 11 in a photo finish, 25 seconds ahead of the chasers.

The Frenchman subscribes to a popularly held belief that Wednesday's stage proved Vingegaard was back to top form. "At the end, we suddenly saw that Pogacar had to climb up out of his saddle because he was tired, very tired. Did he do too much when he attacked or what? Maybe he felt superior to Vingegaard and was stunned by how Vingegaard stood up to him. It certainly bodes well for the future of this Tour in the Pyrenees and the Alps," Thevenet added

He also said that both the unique rivalry and Pogacar's modus operandi were attracting a new generation to cycling. "There have been other rivalries between two riders, but what makes this one different is this - what I admire is that Pogacar shows such willingness to make efforts to win this Tour from a greater distance. Pogacar going for it in the first week is good for cycling and it's bringing lots of new fans to cycling," Thevenet concluded.