In the 1964 Tour, when Jacques Anquetil was dropped by Raymond Poulidor on the Puy de Dome, he was told that the future winner Anquetil had retained the leader's jersey by 14 seconds, to which he famously replied succinctly, "That's 13 seconds more.

More than half a century later, on the same climb, race leader Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) had a remarkably similar attitude to when he held the overall lead by 17 seconds, despite being eight seconds down on his archrival Tadej Pogachar (UAE Team Emirates) in the Puy de Dome. He had a similar attitude.

At the leader's press conference, Vingegaard made similar claims to those he made after losing time in Cotare earlier in the week. These early mountain stages are not his strong suit, and not losing time is never ideal, but for now the maillot jaune is on his shoulders.

"It would have been nice to stay with him and not lose any more time," agreed Vingegaard, "but the first week is not for me. But the first week was not the right stage for me.

Vingegaard saw the eight-second time loss to Pogachar as a tactical setback rather than a major defeat, and it fit well with the team's strategy for this stage. Jumbo Visma was more pleased to have made a breakaway than to have earned a bonus second in the battle for the championship with the UAE.

On why Jumbo did not let the UAE take control of the race and risk Pogachar profiting from their work - as had happened in Cautaret, and as had happened in Puy de Dome - Vingegaard said that the UAE's grip on such a tight The UAE may not have wanted to maintain such a tight grip. It was therefore up to the leader's team to take responsibility.

Vingegaard reiterated his claim that weeks 2 and 3 would be favorable, saying, "These stages suit me much better than these stages.

"The feeling was very good, but as I said before, these stages suit him better than me. So I had to follow him.

Regardless of the result, Vingegaard seemed to appreciate that the chance to race on a mythical climb like the Puy de Dome was a special experience: "It was very steep and very warm today. It was a really great climb."

In any case, what he enjoyed most was seeing his family waiting for him at the top of the climb: "The moment I saw them, I forgot everything about racing today.

Third-place finisher Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) was just over a minute behind, reducing the gap to Dane to 2:40. But Vingegaard was, as usual, tight-lipped when asked if he had thought much about Pogachar during the long preparation period leading up to July and during the race.

"When I'm preparing myself, I don't really think about him," he said. Of course, when I'm making plans, I may have to think about him."

As for whether he thinks Pogachar is getting better as the race progresses, he replied, "I'd have to ask him about that. But for now, Vingegaard remains in yellow, even if the next two weeks of the Tour will reveal that.