Following a successful defence of the yellow jersey having come under pressure from rival Tadej Pogačar on the Alpe d'Huez on Thursday, stage 13 of the Tour de France proved a welcome respite for Jonas Vingegaard.
The Dane, who leads Pogačar by 2:22 at the top of the rankings, was predictably untroubled on the 192.6km stage to Saint-Etienne as the sprinter's teams battled with the breakaway for the victory.
Vingegaard finished safely in the peloton among the rest of the GC contenders, while out front his compatriot Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) took Denmark's third stage win in four days.
In the post-race press conference, the 25-year-old was asked whether the easier day in the saddle, with no major mountains to speak of unlike on stage 12, gave him more time to enjoy being in yellow.
"Actually, both days I enjoyed it," Vingegaard replied. "It has been super nice so far. I just want to enjoy it, and every day I enjoy the jersey. I just want to keep fighting every day to keep the jersey.
"There's more attention and focus on me," he added. "But yeah, I also expected this. So, I'm not surprised about how it is. I knew it would be more and I'm fine with it and that's a part of it so that's how it is.
"As for racing, it was not a hard day nor an easy one. We knew there were some places where there might be crosswinds and we were careful at those. It is good I have a team full of big guys, because they are very good at guiding and protecting me through these kinds of stages. In the end, I was able to save some legs for the mountain stages."
Of course, Vingegaard himself took the win two days ago on the Col du Granon - cracking Pogačar as he stormed to a Tour-upending triumph. At Megève the day before, Magnus Cort had claimed Denmark's first victory of the race.
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The country last celebrated a stage win when Søren Kragh Andersen took two from the break in Lyon and Champagnole during the 2020 race. Now, a couple of weeks on from the Grand Départ in the country, they can celebrate three wins, the most since Bjarne Riis and Rolf Sørensen combined for three back during the former rider's Tour-winning effort of 1997.
"It's absolutely incredible for all the Danish," Vingegaard said of the 2022 race. "Three stage wins so of course it's super, super nice and I'm happy for Mads [Pedersen] that that he wins today.
"It's always big to win a stage – well not always, I won the other day my first one. So, it was at least super big for me. It's super nice for Mads and I'm happy for him."
Vingegaard's attention will now turn towards Saturday's 14th stage in Mende, with the 2.9km, 10.5% Côte de la Croix Neuve likely to provide another GC showdown following the race's visit to the Alps.
He has acknowledged before that Pogačar is the strongest of the two on short, sharp explosive efforts needed on such a climb, and did the same again when asked about Mende. He gave very little away, however.
"As you say, maybe the shorter climbs are not exactly what I'm the best at," Vingegaard said. "But I'm just going to do everything I can as I always do, and then we'll see how it is in the end. "
