Having wrested the Tour de France's yellow jersey away from Tadej Pogačar with a stunning attack on Wednesday's stage to the Col de Granon, Jonas Vingegaard immediately came under repeated pressure from his main rival for the overall win on Alpe d'Huez on Thursday.
Unlike Pogačar's collapse over the final five kilometres a day earlier on the Granon, Vingegaard was able to resist as the Slovenian recovered to put in two stinging attacks late on the climb to Alpe d'Huez on stage 12.
Jumbo-Visma had controlled the pacemaking up the 13.8 kilometres to the line as the super-team of Wout van Aert, Tiesj Benoot, Steven Kruijswijk, Primož Roglič, and Sepp Kuss went to work following stints from Christophe Laporte and Nathan Van Hooydonck earlier in the day.
Kuss had hit the front with just over 5km to run, his pace dropping the likes of Romain Bardet (Team DSM) and Adam Yates (Ineos Grenadiers) from the front, before Pogačar's first attack drew out Vingegaard. The Dane matched his first, and his second, with the pair crossing the line together along with the man in third overall, Ineos' Geraint Thomas.
"The plan was just to make it a bit of a hard race," Vingegaard explained after the finish. "We believe that the harder it is, the better it is for me – then it's less explosive and I think that suits me better, or at least that's what I'm best at.
"The idea was to make everyone else suffer, not to go for the stage win. We expected him to attack and think he will try and do it again. But I think my biggest task is to stick to him and not lose him from sight, and that's what we did.
"I expected him to attack today so that's how it is, and I also expect him to attack in the next two weeks."
Vingegaard also took time out to praise his team's work during the 165km stage. The Dutch squad have, by some way, been the team of the Tour so far with green jersey holder Van Aert having taken two stage wins and spent four days in yellow before the whole team came together to dethrone Pogačar on the Granon.
"Of course, with the team I have it's probably the best team here in the Tour," he said. "We saw it today and yesterday and in the first week also. Today I have to thank all my teammates – they did an incredible job.
"So of course, I get a lot of confidence from the team I have but on the other hand it often comes down to man against man and I just have to be strong enough. Hopefully I can be strong enough."
The duel between Vingegaard and Pogačar figures to be the second in two years at the Tour. Though last year's race was something of a walkover for the Slovenian, Vingegaard stepped up after Roglič's mid-race abandon, and on the double Mont Ventoux stage put Pogačar in trouble for the only time during the race.
He said that he's grown a lot mentally since that day, which ended with the pair finishing together among a small group of GC favourites in Malaucène after Vingegaard had dropped Pogačar on the second of the two ascents as teammate Van Aert scored a famous breakaway victory.
"Mentally I've grown a lot," Vingegaard noted. "Obviously, we saw last year that I already had the level, this year gave a lot for confidence. I just grew mentally.
"Now I have this beautiful jersey and do everything I can to try to hang onto it. It was a special day for me, the first day in yellow."
Vingegaard was also asked about the risks of racing so close to the fans up the final climb. The UAE Team Emirates team of his rival Pogačar has been badly hit by COVID-19, having lost teammates Vegard Stake Laengen and George Bennett as well as team manager Matxin Fernández after the trio tested positive for the virus.
On the way up Alpe d'Huez, fans filled the roads and – as ever – clustered around the riders as they passed. During a Tour that sees teams and organisers take various precautions against the virus which has seen five competitors leave, the sight of maskless fans in such close proximity to the riders is a worrying one.
"Of course, it's a bigger risk to get COVID-19 if a lot of spectators are shouting in your face," Vingegaard said. "But that's how it is. I just hope nobody gets COVID-19 from that. It wouldn't be a nice way to leave Tour."
