"It's the difference of a bad day, you might say" - Jonas Vingegaard eyes yellow jersey on the Tour's second week

Jonas Vingegaard didn't come as a surprise, but is currently in the hot seat when it comes to challenging Tadej Pogacar's dominance at the Tour de France. The Jumbo-Visma rider rode a terrific first week, and will be looking towards more favourable terrain now.

"That's true. Now I'm at 40 seconds, which is not very much," he told Wielerflits at the end of stage nine into Châtel. "It's the difference of a bad day, you might say. But Tadej has no bad days. He is very strong, so we have to do our best to challenge him."

In what was a calmer day than expected, Vingegaard still had to follow the late acceleration of the yellow jersey, matching him and managing to stay on the same 39-second gap that he's held at the start of the day. So far, he's been the only one able to match the moves of the race leader ahead of the second rest day of the race.

He looks at others at the same time: “There are many more riders competing for the overall victory. There are still competitors that can attack. That's why we have to see how everything unfolds in the coming weeks," he added. However, the win is the absolute goal, and although Primoz Roglic has lost time in the stage to Arenberg due to a late crash, he can still play a crucial role.

“There are some teams with corona cases, but not us so far. We feel good. You can get it, there is a chance. So I hope I don't have corona now and can just start on Tuesday. But we'll see tomorrow," he concluded at the finish line.