If a single image could sum up the radically different directions of travel for the 2024 Tour de France’s two top GC contenders right now, you could do worse than the moment when Jonas Vingegaard finally emerged from the anti-doping truck at the stage 15 finish line and began fielding questions about his second straight Pyrenean defeat by Tadej Pogačar.
As Vingegaard pedalled gently to a halt in the middle of a sea of microphones and TV cameras for his on-bike interview, Pogačar himself appeared on the finish line following his post-stage media duties. The Tour de France leader then rode smoothly and largely un-noticed past the backs of the cloud of reporters surrounding Vingegaard - resplendent in his yellow jersey, accompanied only by his press officer and with six days racing still left, en route for an appropriately low-key celebration of his latest victory.
