There was madness in Jumbo Visma's approach to stage 11 of the Tour de France, but there was also method. The chaos that ensued at the Col du Telegraph and the Col du Galibier seemed to have been planned before the Tour even started.

The Dutch contingent created an absurd day, and the race's previous logic collapsed spectacularly on the Granon pass.

A decisive attack by Vingegaard 5km from the summit turned the race upside down. Vingegaard's radio went off as he caught up to and overtook Nairo Quintana and Romain Bardet. With 4km to go, Vingegaard was already the de facto race leader. Three kilometers from home, he had a 1:30 lead over Pogacar. At the summit, he was 2:51 ahead of Pogacar and the overall leader.

"Sure, I was energized to hear the gap widening, but it was a really brutal climb. I was completely at my limit with 3km to go," said Vingegaard, who missed the chance to ride the Granon in the pre-Tour training camp. "To be honest, when I scouted the stage, I didn't go up the last climb on the bike. I jumped in the car, so I didn't experience it myself. Today I did, but it was a brutal climb."

Jumbo Visma's attack began on Telegraph, where Primoz Roglic tested the route, and continued unabated on the lower slopes of Galibier. Vingegaard and Roglic alternately attacked the yellow jersey of Pogacar, each setting off three accelerations. Both men risked losing the Tour altogether by setting the race on fire with so much distance remaining, but the odds were attractive, at least according to Vingegaard.

"It's true that there was a risk, but on the other hand, both Primosch and I have already finished second in the Tour. 'It was nice to finish second in the Tour last year. If I hadn't done anything here, I probably would have been second again. But I wanted to try something and reach for the win. I think this shows the mentality of the team.

"We wanted to attack from distance and try with Primosch. He was on board with the plan and really fought for it.

On the summit of Galibier, it initially looked as if Jumbo Visma's big attack had backfired. When Pogacar picked up the pace as they approached the summit, only Vingegaard followed. And even as the yellow jersey group swelled again on the other side and included no less than five Jumbo Visma riders among them, Pogacar looked quite comfortable.

When the TV bikes lined up beside Pogacar, he smiled mischievously at the camera, as if to emphasize a point. In hindsight, the yellow jersey seemed to protest too much.

"On the summit, on the Galibier, he was so strong he dropped everyone else.

"But on the last climb, I knew if I didn't try, I wouldn't win," Vingegaard said.

Although Pogacar's teammate Rafal Mayka burned off Vingegaard's support on the Col de Granon, the yellow jersey Vingegaard was unable to increase his tempo as the Dane accelerated furiously with 5km to go. But Vingegaard confessed afterward that he was completely unaware that Pogacar was exerting himself.

"No, but I had my chances. Honestly, I didn't know if he was struggling or not, but the team said over the radio that it was going to get steeper in the last 5km," Vingegaard said. But I heard over the radio from the team that it was going to get steeper with 5km to go."[23] [24] "I didn't know if he was struggling or not, to be honest. That's what I did. I wanted to attack and luckily I did. In the end, I was able to widen the gap on him."

Before the Tour began, Jumbo Visma had set his sights on a series of stages in the Alps in an attempt to isolate Pogacar in a mass onslaught. If he did not succeed on Wednesday's Col du Granon, he planned to try again on Thursday on the road to the Alpe d'Huez. Instead, Vingegaard will start the stage with a 2:16 lead over Bardet and a 2:22 lead over Pogacal in the overall standings. Logric, on the other hand, was nearly 14 minutes behind and completely out of sight.

Jumbo-Visma's two-pronged offensive will be focused on one thing: defending the yellow jersey of Vingegaard from here to Paris. Given the depth of Pogacar's travails on the summit of Granon, Vingegaard will be hoping to put the Slovenian in even more trouble on stage 12, climbing the Col de la Croix de Fer over the Col du Galibier and preparing for the final climb to the Alpe d'Huez.

Vingegaard and Pogacar went into the Tour as one of the favorites to win

, while the Danish team of Gerard and Gerard will be looking to make a strong showing in the Tour of the Alpes d'Huez. Denmark, which hosted the Grande Paire, took the yellow jersey for the first time since Michal Rasmussen won in 2007. But rather than dwell on the past, the Danish public standing at the 21 hairpins of the Alpes on Thursday afternoon will be free to dream of what could happen in this Tour. But Pogacar spoke defiantly before leaving Glanon on Wednesday evening. 'The Tour is not over yet.'

"I see Taddeusi as my biggest rival and he will attack every day if he has the chance," Vingegaard warned. 'It's going to be a hard race from now until Paris, but we just have to do our best every day.'