After demolishing his Tour de France rivals and taking the yellow jersey at Gavarnie-Gèdre on Thursday, Tadej Pogačar enjoyed an uneventful stage seven, finishing the day still sitting pretty 2:42 ahead of Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), with Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) taking the bunch sprint win.
You get the impression this will be the first of many straightforward days in yellow lying ahead for UAE Team Emirates-XRG's Pogačar. Even on the high mountain stages where his rivals could take him on at his own game, it feels as though something exceptional will need to happen even for someone to take a small chunk of his lead from him.
