Tadej Pogachar gave Jonas Vingegaard his all on stage 17 of the Tour de France in the Pyrenees, but the payoff for the bonus four seconds for his and his depleted team's efforts on the road to Peyragudo was minimal.

Certainly, Pogachar outpaced Vingegaard on the summit to secure his third Tour win, but even with his usual jubilation at the finish, one cannot shake the impression that this was little more than a consolation prize. The road to a third consecutive overall win remains as closed now as it was before the day began. He remains in second place overall, 2:18 behind Vingegaard.

"Tomorrow is a harder day, so we can try again tomorrow," Pogachar insisted after the podium ceremony, but he is aware that he has almost used up tomorrow in this Tour. Thursday's Col d'Aubisque, Col de Spandel, and the pass over the Autacam are his last chance to maneuver this race at will.

Pogachar will take solace in the fact that, for the first time in this race, his UAE Team Emirates squad was stronger than Vingegaard's Jumbo Visma squad and was down to four riders. After Marc Soler, who was not feeling well, finished outside the time limit on Tuesday, the injured Rafal Maika retired before the start.

In their absence, the most surprising Mikkel Bjarg and the most resolute Brandon McNulty were on the mark, cutting the yellow jersey group short on the final climb of the Col de Val Lelong Azé.

However, Pogachar's overarching problem in this Tour remains unresolved. Vingegaard took the Slovenian's steering wheel as the UAE Team Emirates chase began, even after McNulty's relentless tempo burned out the rest of the field. McNulty led Pogachar and Vingegaard over the summit of the Val Lelong Azé and all the way up to Peyragudo.

"I think the mood was lifted today, even though there were four of us," Pogachar said. We're really optimistic for tomorrow's stage," Pogachar said. I'm really optimistic and motivated for tomorrow's stage. Brandon and Mikkel were really good. Brandon and Mikkel were really good. We knew we were stronger today."

Pogachar reiterated two themes in a televised interview behind the podium and in a brief stage winner's conference for the press: team strength and confidence ahead of Thursday's third stage, the toughest of the three Pyrenean stages.

"Not only Brandon, but also Mikkel and Hirschi. Mikkel was like a climber. He set a very good pace on the climb. I felt good about that pace and confident. Brandon did a great job.

"The last few days have been bad luck, there was always something wrong. If everything had been normal, I think we would have been the strongest team every day. Tomorrow we will give it our all."

But while Bjarg and McNulty outdid themselves on Wednesday, Pogachar once again failed to trouble Vingegaard. Before the final sprint, Pogachar's only acceleration came in the last few meters of the Arquette d'Angican. Whether Pogachar was aiming for mountain points or trying to rush Vingegaard before the descent is not known, but his lack of confidence in dropping the yellow jersey on the final climb is evident.

It proved to be the case. Vingegaard was relentless here, as he had shown in Alpe d'Huez, Mende and Mul de Péguerre. Even without Sepp Kuss and Wout Van Aert by his side on the last two climbs, Vingegaard was not left out of the predicament.

"Vingegaard is strong. We knew that. He knows Thursday's Autacam finale better than anyone, given the infamous run the Saunier Duval team had on this climb in 2008, just before Riccardo Ricco's positive EPO test forced him out of the race.

"We have to be realistic and this is an important gap," Gianetti said of Pogachar's delay. 'But in the Tour you have to keep believing until the end. It will take a lot of courage and a lot of things."

Pogachar also shared an optimistic outlook. Pogachar, for his part, seemed more optimistic about Pogachar's prospects.

"But if Rafal Maika, Marc Soler, George Bennett, and Brandon and Mikel had been there today, I think they could have raced harder and maybe cracked Jonas.

In fact, Pogachar knows that hypotheses about a depleted team are meaningless. The second half of this race is a head-to-head battle between two strong men, and Pogachar still has to drop Vingegaard. It sounds simple, but it's complicated. The harder the race is, the better," Pogachar said. We will find out tomorrow if he has any weaknesses."

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