"There were moments when I was struggling" - Tadej Pogacar unable to drop Vingegaard on Mont Ventoux

Was this Tadej Pogacar's biggest test of the Tour de France thus far? Whilst the stage overall was much easier than the days in the Pyrenees, the yellow jersey was put under serious pressure from Jonas Vingegaard for the first time since the race entered the mountains.

"I knew from the very start that Vingegaard was feeling good, so I was ready for what was to come. We've done our job, on to the next one," Pogacar said in a post-race interview. UAE Team Emirates - XRG placed Marc Soler and Pavel Sivakov in the breakaway anticipating moves on the final ascent, but both did not play a role in the stage.

Pogacar had to follow Vingegaard's many attacks on the steep slopes of Ventoux, and the Dane followed his own two teammates after attacking the race. There were virtually no tactics deployed in Provence this Tuesday by the Tour's two main favourites, but instead an impressive display of power - Pogacar is the new record holder of the climb, as both climbed it in just under 55 minutes.

"My form is good, but it was quite scary to come out of the rest day and immediately have to tackle Mont Ventoux. But I came out of it well. Luckily, I didn't have the same legs as in 2021. We weren't really interested in winning the stage; the breakaway deserved it," he said.

After surviving several attacks, Pogacar put in his own with around 2 kilometers to go. But Vingegaard responded strongly - and then even attacked again himself. "I tried to attack once, but that might not have been the smartest move. You're better off not blowing yourself up, so I followed Jonas as much as possible," he explains. 

"There were moments when I was struggling; it was one full-throttle effort to the finish. With 800 meters to go, I saw the leaders; with one more effort, it might have been ours." Still, with a late acceleration, he gained 2 seconds on the Dane.

The gap to Vingegaard is of 4:15 minutes now, ahead of the Alps showdown. "There were so many people on the sidelines. The Alps will be amazing, with a lot of Slovenians along the road for me and Primoz. It's going to be a race all the way to Paris, for sure," he concluded.