Jonas Vingegaard denied he was worried after Tadej Pogachar further reduced the time he led in the Tour de France. The Slovenian took another eight seconds on the summit of the Grand Colombier on stage 13, reducing the gap between the two to single digits.

As in the Puy de Dome on stage 9, Jambovisma was unable to catch the Slovenian's explosive attack. He held on until the last 100 meters, but the gap was only 4 seconds, plus the 4-second time bonus that Pogachar received for his third place on this stage.

Vingegaard insisted that he was confident of his chances, even if the gap had narrowed in the mountains on day three and the memory of his successful attack on the opening Pyrenean stage was beginning to fade in the Tour's rearview mirror.

Asked directly if he was worried, Vingegaard said, "No. If I win, I win, and if I don't win, I don't win. I just have to do my best.

Next up for the Tour peloton are two brutally difficult days in the Alps.

Perhaps with that in mind, Vingegaard is confident that the small gap he currently has at the top of GC will be much wider by the end of the race. He also affirmed that he has yet to perform at his best and that conditions are improving.

"As history has proven, the Tour is never decided in seconds or tens of seconds.

"I have confidence in myself. I believe in my strengths. I'm excited to see what happens in the next few days."

"I'm feeling better and better and I'm happy with how I'm feeling. I think the Tour de France will be decided in the next week.

Vingegaard explained that not riding with the Jumbo-Visma riders in the Grand Colombier was a deliberate tactic, as UAE Team Emirates was pushing Pogachar hard.

"I knew they wanted to make the final climb hard. We did a good job today," he insisted.

As the Tour dragged on, the one-on-one battle between Vingegaard and Pogachar continued, and it was clear that these two were dominating the others.

"I think it's a very good rivalry. He is definitely one of the best riders in the world. He's a very tough opponent," insisted Vingegaard.

Sepp Kuss, rider of Jumbo Visma, stayed close to Vingegaard the whole time, only being behind in the last kilometer. At this year's Giro d'Italia, he saved Primoš Roglic's race.

In the Tour, Kuss again served as Jumbo-Visma's top climbing domestique, and although the leader's time loss was minor, the American said after the stage that he was more than satisfied with how the stage unfolded.

"I think it was a good day for us. It was pretty straightforward, we expected the UAE to take control and we knew that Pogachar was a finish that really suited us well.

"The last kilometer was really explosive. We didn't get to use the full bonus seconds, but he [Pogachar] got some time gaps.

"We're still in first place.

When asked if it would have been better if Pogachar had led by a second or two, Kuss replied, "It's hard to answer."

"We had some early stage control and running at the front, but we had our own plan and it's good to be in the lead with the yellow jersey."

Kuss said of his team leader, "He was really good. It's hard to tell on a climb like this because it was so easy all day and the last 500 meters decide the race."

"But he rode really strong and is looking forward to the alpine stages.