Neither Vingegaard nor Pogacar finished first at the summit of the Puy de Dome after Canadian Michael Woods delivered an impressive solo effort to claim the biggest success of his career.
Yet the fierce rivals, riding well behind the day’s breakaway they had allowed to form, were again in the spotlight.
The two have been in a fierce duel since the start of this year’s pulsating Tour in Bilbao, Spain, and will certainly enjoy Monday’s first rest day.
Vingegaard, the defending champion from Denmark after he dethroned Pogacar last year, had the upper hand in the first round of their battle in altitude. His Slovenian rival responded in style to regain time in the next two mountain stages.
With two weeks of racing remaining, only 17 seconds separate the two in the general classification, with Vingegaard wearing the yellow jersey.
Jai Hindley is in third place, 2 minutes and 40 seconds off the pace.
Vingegaard and Pogacar’s confrontation Sunday on the steepest part of the climb up to the Puy de Dome was not as dramatic as the duel between Anquetil and Poulidor in 1964, when the two French rivals engaged in a “mano a mano” for the ages.
Amid silence reigning in the thin air Sunday — the road leading up to the top of the mountain is so narrow that fans had not been allowed access — the two teamed up for another epic moment, again in a class of their own, with Pogacar in the role of the attacker.
After another great collective effort from Vingegaard’s Jumbo-Visma teammates in the final ramp that destroyed the field, Pogacar launched his attack with one mile left and accelerated again on the steepest gradients. Vingegaard lost ground but did not panic and managed to limit the deficit to eight seconds to retain the yellow jersey.
“It’s not a victory, but it’s a small victory, so I’m super happy today,” said Pogacar, a two-time Tour champion.
Pogacar was the strongest rider up the 8.3-mile ascent, with a speed of 14.7 mph, considerably faster than Woods’ winning average of 12.3 mph.
Vingegaard admitted Pogacar’s superiority on the day, but insisted the profile of the Alpine stages still to come better suit his style.
“It would have been nicer to gain than lose time on Tadej Pogacar, but as I said before, I came to the Tour knowing that the first week suited me less than what’s to come, so to be in the yellow jersey at the end of the first week satisfies me,” he said.
Woods, who rides for the Israel-Premier Tech team, has no ambition in the general classification and was part of the early breakaway. He managed to catch American Matteo Jorgenson just 500 meters from the summit after his rival jumped away from the leading group with less than 50 kilometers left.
Woods then dropped Jorgenson at ease and reached the summit of the Puy de Dome, a volcanic crater in the Massif Central region of south-central France that last hosted a stage 35 years ago.
“I’m 36 years old, turning 37 this year, I’m not getting any younger,” said Woods, who also owns two stage wins at the Spanish Vuelta. “To win a Tour de France stage was my ultimate goal and I could see the window closing.”
Frenchman Pierre Latour finished the 113-mile stage in second place, with Matej Mohoric of Slovenia completing the podium. Jorgenson ended up fourth.