“Sometimes the best defence is attack” – Tadej Pogacar hints Tour de France assault will continue despite commanding lead at first rest day

Tadej Pogacar reached the first rest day of the 2026 Tour de France with the Maillot Jaune and a commanding 2:42 advantage over Jonas Vingegaard. Despite already holding the race in a formidable position, the UAE Team Emirates – XRG leader refused to commit to a purely defensive approach.

“Of course, the main goal is to keep the Yellow Jersey, but sometimes the best defence is attack, and you never know,” Pogacar said post-stage 9. “We’ll see what happens over the next few days, but for sure, the day after the rest day is a tough one.”

Pogacar began Stage 9 with almost three minutes in hand over Vingegaard after distancing his rivals on the Col du Tourmalet. Isaac del Toro sat third overall at 3:27, giving UAE two riders inside the top three.

The journey from Malemort to Ussel had been shortened from 185.5 to 155.5 kilometres after Correze was placed under a red heatwave alert. Temperatures around 37°C and approximately 2,800 metres of climbing contributed to a relentless opening before a powerful breakaway escaped.

UAE kept the move within approximately one minute for much of the afternoon, with Tim Wellens repeatedly setting the pace in a peloton reduced to fewer than 40 riders. Pogacar’s own priority was avoiding trouble before the rest day. “The plan was just to make it to the finish,” he explained. “When the radio isn’t working, you have to talk a lot on the road, that’s it.”

Wellens later outlined an alternative stage-winning plan. UAE had considered placing him and Brandon McNulty in the breakaway before switching towards a possible reduced sprint with Del Toro once the decisive move had gone without them.

UAE held the eight-rider escape close before reducing its contribution during the final 50 kilometres. INEOS then committed Tobias Foss and Kevin Vauquelin to the pursuit, with Filippo Ganna available for a possible reduced-group finish.

The presence of Tom Pidcock and Tobias Halland Johannessen in front also threatened Egan Bernal’s position in the general classification. “We wanted to keep them at around one minute, then INEOS started pulling with the ambition of going for the stage with Pipo [Ganna],” Pogacar said. “In the end, the breakaway made it to the finish. It was a very hard day. I hope tomorrow will be a calm day, with a nice easy spin and some good rest.”

Mathieu van der Poel ultimately beat Johannessen and Pidcock from the four-rider sprint in Ussel, while Pogacar finished safely in the reduced peloton.