And on the 10th day, they duelled by press conference. The Tour de France paused for its first rest day in Orléans on Monday, but the eternal rivalry between Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) was a war of nerves as well as of legs.
Vingegaard’s decision to employ a defensive strategy on the gravel roads of Troyes on stage 9 was met afterwards with a degree of resigned frustration from Pogačar – “I expected that, honestly” – and an altogether more pointed reproach from Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep), the debutant eager to disrupt the Tour’s old firm.
