Jonas Vingegaard pushed Tadej Pogačar all the way to the line, but the Dane was pipped to stage victory by the yellow jersey atop La Planche des Belles Filles at the end of stage 7 of the Tour de France.
On the first summit finish of the race, Vingegaard marked himself out as Pogačar’s most likely challenger for overall honours with his acceleration in the wickedly steep closing metres of La Planche des Belles Filles.
Vingegaard had matched Pogačar’s initial forcing on the gravel road in the final kilometre before coming around the UAE Team Emirates rider with a little under 150m to go.
He proceeded to pass early escapee Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hangrohe) within sight of the line, but Pogačar fought back in the final 20m to claim the stage win ahead of Vingegaard.
"It was definitely a brutal finish, but I think I can be happy," Vingegaard said on crossing the line. "I tried in the end, but he just came with 20m to go, and I didn’t have an answer."
Vingegaard came home in the same time as Pogačar, and 12 seconds clear of his Jumbo-Visma teammate Primoz Roglič. In the overall standings, Vingegaard moves up to second overall, 35 seconds behind Pogačar.
Geraint Thomas (Ineos), who limited his losses to 14 seconds on the stage, is third overall at 1:10, while Roglič climbs to 13th overall, 2:45 down on Pogačar.
"It was really close to the line, but I think I can be happy," said Vingegaard, whose disappointment as missing out on stage victory was tempered by the realisation that he seems the man best placed to deny Pogačar a third successive Tour win.
"I mean, hopefully I’m better on the longer climbs. At least that’s what I hope. The legs felt good so I’m happy."
Pogačar's UAE Team Emirates squad led up the category-1 ascent before Rafal Majka swung over just as tarmac gave way to gravel in the final kilometre. The maillot jaune forced the pace himself from there, and though Vingegaard put up fierce resistance, he emerged victorious for the second day in a row.
After the stage, he had praise for the defiance of Vingegaard, who finished second overall a year ago.
"I think he's right now one of the strongest climber in the world, probably the best climber in the world and a really compact rider and a strong team around him," Pogačar said. "So far he's riding really good."
