At Valmeinier 1800, for the third stage this week at the Critérium du Dauphiné, Tadej Pogačar took the win, crossing the line first and dealing another blow in his pre-Tour de France showdown with Jonas Vingegaard.
Following the opening stage win and Friday's demonstration at Combloux, the Slovenian was at it again on Saturday's triple mountain stage, taking off 12km from the finish on the 16km closing climb.
Vingegaard, who was hoping to claw time back on his maillot jaune rival, didn't lose anything like the 1:01 he shed on stage 6, but he still crossed the line second for the third time this race.
After the finish, the Dane put a brave face on another defeat to Pogačar, insisting he was pleased with his day's work.
"I couldn't follow his attack, but to be honest, I think I did quite a good job," Vingegaard told CyclingPro. "I just did my own tempo. I didn't lose much in the end, so I think I can be happy with how things have gone today."
Vingegaard and his Visma-Lease A Bike team had tried several moves against Pogačar and UAE Team Emirates-XRG, including attempting to throw riders in the early break, pushing the pace on the mountainous descents, and a late Sepp Kuss attack.
The Dutch team boasted four men in the GC group heading into the final climb, while Pogačar relied solely on teammate Pavel Sivakov to chase moves and set the pace. Despite the numerical advantage, nothing could be done about Pogačar.
"I tried to follow, and just like yesterday, I had to slow down," Vingegaard said. "But I think I still did a very, very good performance, and I can be happy with how I did today.
"I could see the numbers, and it was quite good numbers to be honest. Again today, Tadej was just better, so congrats to him. He really did deserve to win."
With another 14 seconds, plus four bonus seconds, lost at the line, Vingegaard now heads into Sunday's concluding stage – the summit finish at Plateau de Mont-Cenis – with 1:01 to make up on the Slovenian.
It would be an unlikely turnaround, but not impossible. For Vingegaard, though, this race is primarily a step towards the Tour de France. While Pogačar may yet improve between now and July, Vingegaard can only concentrate on his own form and hope to make his own progress.
"I hope still that this race can help me to get better," he said. "So, hopefully I can be even better in the Tour than I am now. But as you say, he was very, very strong yesterday and also today, so he deserves to win these two days, for sure, so congrats to Tadej."
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