While former Tour de France leader Tadej Pogachar's unexpected defeat at Col de Granon on Wednesday sent shock waves through the ranks of management, riders, and even Pogachar himself, UAE Team Emirates was adamant that "the fight is not over yet."

But the fight was not over.

But little could have prepared Pogachar's team for the dramatic events five kilometers from the top of the Granon, where Jonas Vingegaard was fast approaching from the defending champion. Indeed, as the Tour's leading riders passed the long line of team buses parked at the foot of the Granon and on the wide country road leading to the day's mountainous terrain, there was no hint of any problems from the yellow jersey-clad Jonas Vingegaard himself.

Rather, Pogachar even smiled broadly at the TV cameras as he headed toward the base of the climb, gesturing with one hand to the speed of the stage. Everything seemed to be in place for a stage that would further cement his nearly three-year dominance of the Tour de France.

But as we all know, Granon was not business as usual for Pogachar. And within an hour, as riders and team officials began to make their way back to the dozen or so team buses from the summit and the threat of thunderstorms darkened the sky, the atmosphere in the UAE Team Emirates buses and their small fleet of support vehicles on one side of the national road was understandably, if not significantly, gloomy. remained flat.

Certainly, the UAE had a lot to think about in the Tour after the totally unexpected loss of the yellow jersey by Pogachar. But even so, the mechanics and team officials quietly and efficiently went about their usual post-stage business. Nevertheless, the ever-growing crowd of journalists and the frustrated police officers trying to keep them off the road as the team vehicles roared past were not in vain. Meanwhile, a small crowd of fans, much to the annoyance of the police, sat in a long line in a large hay field just above,

watching the events unfold below.

But when team manager Mauro Gianetti stepped off the bus and addressed the media in fluent English, French, and Italian, his message was clear.

"First of all, I think today is a good day for cycling. We must not forget that Jumbo, and especially Vingegaard, put on a great exhibition. With a weakened team we did what we could. At the start of the last climb, there was Majka with Tadej.

"But Tadej spent a lot of energy on the Galibier. Perhaps he was forced to go too fast and paid the price four or five kilometers from the top of the final climb.

"He was fatigued. His last Tadei was not his best. But his run in Galibier was very impressive.

Pogachar's ambition in Galibier was clear, and at one point he ran so hard that he and Vingegaard were the only two in front. As Gianetti explained, "He had to make a decision, and he ran to eliminate his rivals."

But despite Pogachar's setback, Gianetti said the team remained upbeat. The gap to Vingegaard was large, more than two minutes, but not insurmountable. The race is only halfway to Paris. The team was already planning a strategy to fight back. In his words, "We know what we want to do.

"The gap is huge and you can see that Vingegaard is a very strong, powerful team," he noted. But there is still a week and a half left in the Tour."

Despite losing two support riders, Stijk Vegard Lengen and George Bennett, as well as Majka, who tested positive for COVID-19, he can continue racing for now.

But if Majka, one of the leading figures in the fightback, went straight into the bus to rest without talking to journalists, at least when Pogachar showed up half an hour later, in front of the TV cameras, hugging and cheering on the Slovenians, morale in the UAE may have dropped, but it means that it never collapsed.

Spanish teammate and climber Marc Soler described the mood beautifully as it shifted from a blank neutral mood to a determination to fight back in the hour it took Pogachar to reach the bus after the climb down. He said, "We're going to push just as hard as Jumbo did today."

As Soler confirmed, it was business as usual for the team until the final climb.

"At the top of the Galibier, Taddej fell off with Vingegaard.

"Then we made a bit of a mistake at the end.

Pogachar said he had not said anything to his team during the day to make them worry that things might get worse. 'He was fine throughout the stage. Maybe he forgot to eat a little.

"But I'm not worried anyway.

When he finally arrived at the bus, Pogachar himself was adamant that his rough ride in Granon was not an indication of poor physical condition or health. It was simply that things had not gone according to plan.

Before boarding the team car for the hotel, he told journalists, "I was feeling good until the last climb. I was feeling good until the last climb. The Tour is not over yet."