"It’ll be fireworks today" - Jonas Vingegaard anticipates key day in the Massif Central

Jonas Vingegaard enters stage 10 of the Tour de France over a minute behind Tadej Pogacar in the overall classification but with ambitions of making the race difficult. He is perhaps not going to do it himself in terrain that suits Tadej Pogacar better, but Visma are certain to test the Slovenian and UAE on an explosive day of racing.

"Think it’ll be fireworks today. It’s Bastille day and I think all French riders would like to go in the break," Vingegaard smirks at the start of the stage. Team Visma | Lease a Bike are highly anticipated to attack this stage as they look to take advantage of their strength and depth; and a UAE Team Emirates that will be starting without João Almeida and hence with a diminished lineup for the climbs.

On stage 6 the Dutch team pushed hard to get men in the breakaway and attempted to jump across with Matteo Jorgenson - to which Tadej Pogacar responded directly. We could see the same scenario this Monday afternoon in central France.

There is no mention of specific tactics that the team will use but it is quite likely that from early on the Dutch team will have intentions of putting pressure on their rivals. But regardless of what happens in the early hours of the race, the Dane can't put aside what is likely to happen in the final kiloemters.

"I could imagine it’ll be a GC day, because the stage is so hard, so can’t imagine we won’t go full gas to the line," he concluded. The climb to Le Mont Dore is not too difficult (3 kilometers at 8%) but comes at the end of a day with 4500 meters of climbing and right after a very technical descent that can split the peloton even before entering the ascent itself.