Instead, it was his Classics rival Pogacar who distanced him, with team UAE Emirates-XRG setting an infernal pace up the final slope to whittle the field down to a select group of climbers, including Remco Evenepoel, local boy Kevin Vauquelin, and Briton Oscar Onley, who ultimately finished third.

Dane looks ahead to the mountains on stage 10 and into the second and third week, as he sits fourth on GC 1:17 behind close rival

Jonas Vingegaard's wife Trine was brutally honest in her assessment of the Visma-Lease cycling team, as she blamed them for pushing her husband too far.

Pogačar was happy to lose the yellow jersey by a single second to Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), who went deep in the breakaway of the stage, won by Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), to take back yellow.

Just three days into the race, it’s clear we’re about to be treated to an epic duel between Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard for the yellow jersey.