Jonas Vingegaard and his Jumbo Visma teammates kept a low profile on their rest day in the French Alps, but the Dane will start the Alpine mountain stage 39 seconds ahead of Tadej Pogachar.

The 25-year-old Dane lost a few seconds in the opening time trial and cobbled stage, while Pogachar added 18 seconds through time bonuses. However, the two seem to be on a par with each other.

After nine stages of the 2021 Tour de France, Vingegaard was already 5:32 behind and only became the team leader when Primoš Roglic was forced to retire due to a fall injury in Tignes on the rest day.

Some observers credit Vingegaard with limiting his losses in terrain more suited to Pogachar and perhaps having a real chance to challenge the Slovenian in the mountains and prevent him from winning his third consecutive title.

"I've only been racing for a week, and of course it's been a hard week, but I'm in good shape.

"Last year I was a little more relaxed. Not so much relaxed, but more realistic, like if something happened, it didn't matter if I lost time. This year it's the opposite, I don't want to lose time. It didn't feel good to lose 39 seconds to Pogachar, but it's the Tour de France, anything can happen."

Vingegaard was again the main leader of the Jumbo-Visma after a crash by Slovenian rider Roglic, who dislocated his shoulder on the cobbles of stage 5 and lost two minutes. Vingegaard also suffered mechanical problems on this stage, but only lost 13 seconds as he was chased down by teammate Wout Van Aert.

"The first stage was going really well, no crashes, no time loss, but I had a bit of bad luck on the first cobblestone stage, I crashed and dropped my chain," said Wingegaard.

"Looking back, that moment was pretty funny. The chain got caught on the frame. I should have just stopped, pulled the chain out and put it back in. That would have been a lot faster than changing bikes four or five times."

"Since then the race has been going well again, but Primoz's crash was not so good. But we will keep fighting and there are still two weeks left in the Tour."

Vingegaard admits that 39 seconds is not a huge gap, but he knows he will have to gap Pogachar at some point, keeping an eye on his other rivals who are closing in on him in the overall standings.

Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) is 1:17 back in third place, while teammate Adam Yates is 1:25 back in fourth. Eight players are within two minutes of Pogachar, with Nairo Quintana (Arkea Samsic) just 2:13 behind.

"It's not much, just one bad day. But I guess Tadei never has a bad day," Vingegaard reasoned.

"He is very strong and we have to do our best to challenge him. I also think there are more riders who can fight for the win. It's not just me and Taddei. There are many riders who can attack. We will see how everything turns out in the next few weeks.

Jumbo Visma has his sights set high for the 2022 Tour de France, while Wout Van Aert is also targeting the stage and green points jersey. The Belgian all-rounder has already won twice and scored enough points to virtually take the green jersey.

This is encouraging for the Dutch team and also means they can focus on helping Vingegaard take on Pogachar. On the rest day in Morzine, captain Merijn Zeeman returned to the Tour de France after recovering from COVID-19 and called for Jumbo-Visma tactics from the team car.

Jumbo-Visma seems to have a race plan for the Alps and Pyrenees, even if Vingegaard did not reveal it.

"I have a plan, but I'm not going to tell you what it is. You'll have to wait and see what the plan is. We want to do our best," he joked.

"We always have a plan, but sometimes it doesn't work and sometimes it didn't work. Now we just have to look at everything and see what the best plan is."

Jumbo-Visma's game plan seems to include an attack in the mountains rather than waiting for the time trial on stage 20.

"I think I can have a good time trial, but so can Pogachar," Vingegaard warned. 'I don't have the confidence to count on a time trial at the end of the race. We'll see what happens in the next two weeks."

Vingegaard probably suggested where to attack by picking his favorite place to win a stage.

"Probably L'Alpe d'Huez," he said. It's a special climb in the Tour de France, always full of spectators."

Jumbo Visma's game plan also means avoiding the capture of COVID-19.

The Dutch team has suffered so many infections in recent months that riders and staff eagerly wear face masks that look like giant beaks when not racing. Vingegaard had to walk through a crowd of fans to get to training on Monday, but only removed his mask when he was with his teammates.

"Some teams have had COVID-19, but we haven't had it.

"Of course, it is possible to be infected. So we don't have COVID-19 right now and we are praying that we can start on Tuesday."