Vingegaard and Pogacar play mind games with first-week attacks at Tour de France

JumboVismas Danish rider Jonas Vingegaard wearing the overall leaders yellow jersey L speaks with UAE Team Emirates Slovenian rider Tadej Pogacar wearing the best young riders white jersey R as they await the start of the 7th stage of the 110th edition of the Tour de France cycling race 170 km between MontdeMarsan and Bordeaux in southwestern France on July 7 2023 Photo by AnneChristine POUJOULAT AFP Photo by ANNECHRISTINE POUJOULATAFP via Getty Images

After two days of attacking, time gains and losses in the Pyrenees, Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) were able to enjoy a quiet day at the Tour de France on the long flat ride to Bordeaux. The duo, separated by 25 seconds in the overall standings, played GC mind games rather than launching any major attacks on Friday.

As Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) caught and passed Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan) in sight of the finish line, ending the Manxman’s hopes of taking a record 35th stage win, Vingegaard finished 22nd, carefully protected by Jumbo-Visma teammate Christophe Laporte. Only Wout van Aert was absent after sitting up in the final kilometres. He finished 148th at 3:05 and so slipped to 16:05 in the general classification, enough time to allow a go in the expected attacks in the finale of stage 8 to Limoges on Saturday.