Two days later, on stage four to Rouen, Vingegaard resembled one of the world’s best puncheurs, as well as one of its best climbers. Following Pogacar’s attack in the closing kilometres, Vingegaard produced the best one-minute power effort of his career, matching the Slovenian’s famed acceleration.

Jonas Vingegaard has predicted that there will be a general classification showdown the moment the road goes uphill on Bastille Day at the Tour de France. Stage 10 is set to be the first mountain test of this year's race in the Massif Central, with eight categorised climbs lining the route to add up to more than 4,500m metres of elevation gain.

Instead, it was his Classics rival Pogacar who distanced him, with team UAE Emirates-XRG setting an infernal pace up the final slope to whittle the field down to a select group of climbers, including Remco Evenepoel, local boy Kevin Vauquelin, and Briton Oscar Onley, who ultimately finished third.

Stage 10 of the Tour de France will take place on Monday, July 14th, and it could be one of the most eventful days of the race in the Massif Central rounds.

Dane looks ahead to the mountains on stage 10 and into the second and third week, as he sits fourth on GC 1:17 behind close rival

The only other rider on the team to wear a different helmet is, of course, Wout Van Aert, who wears a helmet painted in RedBull livery as per his personal sponsorship deal with the energy drink brand. Is the same true for Vingegaard's red helmet?

1. Tadej Pogacar, Slovenia, UAE Team Emirates-XRG, 04:05:39. 2. Jonas Vingegaard, Denmark, Team Visma ' Lease a Bike, same time. 3. Oscar Onley, Great Britain, Picnic PostNL, 04:05:41. 4. Felix Gall, Austria, Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, same time.

Pogačar was happy to lose the yellow jersey by a single second to Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), who went deep in the breakaway of the stage, won by Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), to take back yellow.

Jonas Vingegaard's wife Trine was brutally honest in her assessment of the Visma-Lease cycling team, as she blamed them for pushing her husband too far.

Tadej Pogačar is the favorite to win this year’s Tour de France. The 26-year-old Slovenian cyclist's quest for a fourth Tour title starts Saturday in Lille after an impressive season, including victories in one-day races and the recent Critérium du Dauphiné.

Dane describes brutal eight-climb route to Le Mont Dore as 'the first real test outside the time trial', with 1:17 deficit to make up on Pogačar