Pogacar and Vingegaard draw a blank as Tour heads into rest day

SAINT GERVAIS, France: Jonas Vingegaard and Slovenian Tadej Pogacar shadowed each other on Sunday (Jul 16) before they face a highly-anticipated individual time trial which the Danish defending champion will start with a 10-second advantage after a rest day.

Pogacar, who looked to be struggling in the final ascent of Sunday's 15th stage won by Dutch Wout Poels, attacked just inside the final kilometre on the Bettex climb (7km at 7.7 per cent) but could not drop the Jumbo-Visma rider.

Vingegaard tried to catch Pogacar off guard in the last steep bend but both rolled over the line together, six minutes and four seconds behind Poels, who gave Bahrain Victorious their second stage win this year, a month after the death of team mate Gino Mader at the Tour de Suisse.

On a 179km trek featuring three first-category climbs, Vingegaard and Pogacar put their teams to work but let a large breakaway go after a massive pile-up, signalling they would not go for the stage win and the bonus seconds that go with it, a day after another epic round in their fight for the title.

"I think (in) the time trial there will be a gap, also the next day with one of the hardest climbs in the world (to the Col de la Loze). Also stage 20 could make the difference," said Pogacar.

"Of course, I would have liked to create a gap today. In such a situation with a rider like Jonas it's good to take time when you can but being 10 seconds behind pushes me to be aggressive and that suits me.

"Today is a tie. It was a good day, although three of my team mates crashed," said Vingegaard, whose team mates Sepp Kuss, Nathan van Hooydonck and Dylan van Baarle hit the deck with others after one of the Jumbo Visma riders was put off balance by a spectator.

Vingegaard's team