Tour de France leader Tadey Pogachar (UAE Team Emirates) jumped out of the main GC pack to win for the first of several times on Sunday at the summit finish in Chatel.

Pogachar was only 3 seconds ahead of the other favorites, with the exception of Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo Visma), who also lost his stage win and top three places, so there were no bonus seconds.

But the Slovenian, who showed tremendous power on the cobbles of Roubaix, won back-to-back stages in Longwy and Super Planche des Belle Filles, and finished third in Lausanne, made perfect sense to grab every possible opportunity and avoid a last-minute ambush at the same time He insisted that it was.

"If there is a chance, there is no way to pass it up.

"On the last climb of the day, I was in good control and jumped out to surprise no one, just enough to make a three-second gap, just enough to make a three-second gap, just enough to make a three-second gap, just enough to make a three-second gap, just enough to make a three-second gap.

He was not surprised that the Dane was the quickest to react when the race reached the Alps after Vosges' Super Planche des Belles Fils, where Vingegaard made a late attack. [Pogachar, who now trails Vingegaard by 39 seconds, predicted, "It's going to be a big battle between me and him. 'But the others aren't too far behind. But the other players aren't that far off either.

At this point in the 2021 Tour, Pogachar held a lead of over two minutes after breaking the field heading into Le Grand-Bornand, but in 2022, the Slovenian seems to be employing a different tactic for now to strengthen his lead. Indeed, his determination to snatch time whenever and wherever he can appears to be more about winning on points rather than one-hit punches.

But the main battlefield in the Alps is still to come, and the chance to strike the kind of blow that almost won Pogachar the 2021 Tour in one fell swoop is not likely. And in the pre-Alps skirmishes, the more time spent (as well as the morale boost from back-to-back stage wins), the better Pogachar's balls will be on the ball at Wednesday's summit finish on the Col de Granon and Thursday's Alpe d'Huez.

"Both the Alpe d'Huez and the Granon are brutal. The Galibier (on both Wednesday and Thursday - editor's note) is very long and high, and the Alpe d'Huez is very steep." Of the two, I think Alpe d'Huez and the Croix de Fer before it are the queen stages of this year's Tour de France."

The Alps are a challenge in themselves, but the shadow of COVID-19 over the entire Tour de France is another threat to the entire peloton, not just the Pogachar. But the reaction of the race leaders, the Slovenes, to the current situation is often of greatest interest.

Asked if he had already taken the Tour de France rest day test, as the riders did minutes after finishing stage 9, Pogačar said he would shortly.

"I took the test two days before Vegarde [Stijk Lengen] retired. 'We are taking this virus seriously and taking precautions. We just hope that most of the athletes are going to be okay."