Tadej Pogačar tried and tried and tried again on stage 14 of the Tour de France, but he just couldn't dislodge race leader Jonas Vingegaard as he took the fight to the maillot jaune on the road to Mende.
Whether it was inside the opening 10km of the transition stage following the Alps, or at 3.5km to go on the steep slopes of the closing Côte de la Croix Neuve, the pair were – as was the case at Super Planche and Châtel – a class above the rest of the field but inseparable at the finish.
Pogačar had initially made a move in an unexpected place, the day's first climb with a mammoth 184km left to run of the 192.5km stage. He jumped up to the still-nascent break of the day on the Côte de Saint-Just-Malmont, catching Vingegaard napping as the Dane's Jumbo-Visma teammate marked the move.
He tried again later in the climb, with Vingegaard himself having to mark the move and much of his squad nowhere to be seen. Pogačar later explained his early attacks, saying he hoped to stress out his rivals.
"At first Van Aert tried to cross to the big break and I was on his wheel," Pogačar said. "It was a big gap and there were a lot of riders in front trying to make the break. I tried to join and stress the guys behind a little bit.
"In the beginning I was just going with the flow. I was in the break, and they needed to close it. They were a bit stressed maybe and it was good.
"They have a very strong team and for me it would be impossible to be in the break," he acknowledged, despite having caught the strongest team in the race flat-footed.
The situation eventually settled down as the race reached the next classified climb, the Côte de Châtaignier after 40km, with dropped riders catching back on and the peloton slowing down to let the breakaway build a lead reaching up to 14 minutes.
Those early stage hostilities would resume later on, though, with the riders hitting the three-kilometre, 10.2% slopes of the Croix Neuve ahead of the finish at the aerodrome above Mende. Up front the breakaway prevailed, but over 12 minutes later Pogačar was once again taking the fight to Vingegaard.
He put in two attacks on the climb, one at 3.5km from the finish which saw the remainder of the top GC names melt away, and one at 2km out. Neither could dislodge his Danish rival, though, with Vingegaard looking almost at ease in answering the accelerations and ceding no time at the finish.
"In the end it was the plan to go full on the last climb," Pogačar said afterwards. "For me it's better [to be the one attacking] but today was a bit different with the short climb.
"The legs are there, and the heat is no problem. I will keep trying," he added.
Since his unexpected collapse on the Col du Granon three days ago, Pogačar has attempted to steal back some time on Vingegaard on two out of three stages, though hasn't yet gained a second.
After the finish in Mende, he admitted that the climbs of the Pyrenees to come may be more suited to clawing back time as opposed to the short, sharp jolt above Mende.
"Almost impossible. Nothing is impossible," he said. "Today was a short and steep climb so I think in the Pyrenees where there's more open climbs, I can try more times.
"Every day I try and do my best. I lost a lot of time and I need to get it back. I will try to give it my best every day."
