Exactly 87 days have passed since defending Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard crashed, suffering a collapsed lung, broken ribs, and a broken collarbone. Just 54 days ago, he was out for the first time since that crash, and a third Tour de France title contender seemed out of the question.

Even before the start of the Tour de France, Vingegaard said he was just happy to be racing, and his remarkable comeback was made even more impressive when he had no problem with Tadej Pogachar's fierce attack on the double-digit gradient of the second stage, the Cote de Saint-Lucas

While Pogachar took the race leader's yellow jersey, Vingegaard was tied for third with Remco Evenpole (Sudar-Quick Step) and Richard Karapas (EF Education-Easy Post). They were all 21 seconds ahead of the remaining Tour de France competitors, including Primoš Roglic (Bora-Hansgrohe).

"It went better than I expected, so I'm really happy," Vingegaard told NBC after the stage.

"I was able to stay with Taddeji on the second climb of Saint Luca ....... It was probably one of the stages I feared the most.

"To be honest, I didn't prepare well for this race. We probably only had a month and a half to prepare, so I'm very happy with the results so far.

"Even before the crash I knew that today's stage might suit him better than me and especially after the crash I was even further behind. At least I can say now that if I can't come back, at least I'm super, super close."

After the first attack, when Vingegaard did not try to pass, there were a few words between them. He said, "He wanted me to pull at that kicker there, but I waited until the top of that kicker because I knew if I didn't, he would attack me again. And from that moment on, I started to work with him and tried to shorten my time with all the other racers." [Paris-Nice winner Matteo Jorgenson crashed during the stage and finished 21 seconds behind.

"We know who the leader is. With Jonas we have a double Tour crown," Merrin Zeman told NBC. 'That's why we all work for him.'

Jorgenson crashed with Wout Van Aert, but both were relatively unscathed, Zeman said.

"When I heard, of course I was worried," Vingegaard said. 'Fortunately, they weren't hurt. From what I heard, it was just a scratch. For me, they are two super-important helpers and teammates, so I feel lucky about that."