Tadej Pogachar lost an unexpected 1:04 to his rival for the maillot jaune, Jonas Vingegaard, in the Col de Marie Blanc on stage 5 of the Tour de France.

The race's first Pyrenean stage was scheduled to host the next part of their showdown after a series of attacks in the Basque Country's Grande Pearl, but two-time champion Jonas Vingergaard was unable to answer when the Danes set up on the day's final climb

"I'm not sure I'm going to be able to answer.

Vingergaard, who finished 53 seconds behind Vingergaard in Larns, had another tough mountain stage ahead of him on Thursday, but had bigger concerns after the stage.

"I felt great after the race, but I was more saddened to hear that my girlfriend [Urschka Zigert] crashed in the Giro today and might have suffered a concussion," Pogachar told the assembled media after the finish.

." Perhaps a little sadder news than losing 50 seconds or even a minute to Jonas.

Zigato, who belongs to Jayco Alura, fell hard behind the peloton on stage 6 of the Giro d'Italia Donnay, inadvertently knocking over stage 5 winner Antonia Niedermeier (Canyon Slam). The team has yet to give a clear report on her condition.

Pogachar will have to quickly refocus for stage 6 of the Tour de France, another combined mountain day with summit finishes in the Col du Tourmalet and Coterets.

It remains to be seen if he can keep up with Vingegaard or even make up time, but he would like to avoid being put to the sword by rival and teammate Sepp Kuss, as he did on Wednesday afternoon.

"When Sepp Kuss went really hard on the climb, [Jonas] saw that I was opening the gas pedal a bit too much and he attacked.

"The last 2km of the climb was definitely hard. But hopefully I'll have better legs tomorrow." But I want to run better legs tomorrow. I still have a long way to go and I feel good.

After a tough day for the team, the riders did not jump out of the team bus to speak to the press, leaving Mauro Gianetti, head of UAE Team Emirates, to explain what had happened in the previous four hours.

He spoke at length to the large press contingent camped outside the UAE team bus in Larun, saying that Pogachar's preparation time for the Tour (only two days of racing in June as he recovers from a broken wrist) was a factor in the events of stage 5.

"After the Bilbao stage, I was hoping there wouldn't be too much of a gap between him and Vingegaard, but here we see the reality. 'If you don't have real training, real planning and preparation for the Tour, it's no secret,' he said."

"I was hoping that Taddej would change, but in fact Jonas is very strong and in good shape. They did very well as a team and that's the reality today."

Gianetti went on to say that he did not think the difference between the two was as great as the time difference indicated.

"I don't think it's that big of a difference. I don't think it's that big of a difference, because when you're in front, it's good for morale, it's good for motivation. When you are down in the standings, you lose a little bit of motivation. I think it is possible to close this gap."

"We need to keep the morale, the motivation, and the passion for this sport going for the next few weeks. The public will be eager to see the show they have been waiting for."

He added that, as most directors, managers, and riders are saying this evening, the Tour is long and still in its early stages.

The gap from Pogachar to race leader Jai Hindley and Vingegaard may already be huge, but there are still plenty of opportunities to make up precious seconds.

"We were hoping he would be in good condition, but after his crash in Liège, we knew from the beginning that it would be difficult for him to be at 100%," Gianetti said.

"Now we are here, we respect the race and have been fighting for the yellow jersey since day one. I feel responsible to be at this moment, 50 seconds behind Vingegaard and 1:50 behind Hindley. We are in the fifth stage and it is still a long Tour."