Today at the Tour de France is a rest day, and the riders are taking some leisure time before restarting tomorrow for the second week of the race. In the general classification, Tadej Pogacar is now second, with a 29" gap from Ben Healy and a one-minute advantage over Evenepoel in third and almost 1'20" over Vingegaard in fourth.

"So far, everything has gone well. Today we had a nice ride and a good coffee break. Now we went to the barber, had lunch with a good hamburger. So yes, everything is fine so far - he recounted on his rest day -. Now it's time for a nap and a massage. Then dinner will come, and we'll almost be racing again, so the rest day will quickly fly by."

There's rest, but also a review of the first 10 days of racing. "When we arrived at yesterday's stage, I was happy because the first nine days were really hectic and nervous, and we expected that, so yes, I'm just glad we survived, and I'm sorry João didn't make it, but here we are. Soon our terrain, the climb, will arrive, so it will be less stressful. I think we can generally say it was a really good week, except for losing João. That was the only hard blow, but otherwise, we are well-positioned in the general classification and ready to attack in the mountains."

Unfortunately, Almeida was forced to withdraw, which is an important loss for Pogacar, as the Portuguese would have been an excellent help in the mountain stages. However, UAE Emirates looks ahead, and for now, the emiratis feel strong. Pogacar lost the yellow jersey yesterday for the second time in this Tour de France, but the Slovenian is not worried about this.

"We lost João, who showed a true warrior spirit in the last two days he raced, but I can't imagine racing with a broken rib and other problems. I'm sorry he had to leave because we had a really nice group and a really positive atmosphere, and he was looking forward to facing the next two weeks to defend the yellow jersey we lost yesterday. But it's not that serious because we're still quite close and can take it back. Our main rivals in the general classification are still a bit behind and will have to attack if they want to do something. We'll see if Ben can keep the yellow jersey for a couple of stages. He should be tired, and we might try to take the jersey back in the coming days, maybe not tomorrow."

The second week already offers an uphill finish in Hautacam on Thursday, then the mountain time trial on Friday and the big mountain stage in Superbagneres on Saturday.

"I expect a very fast week, and this year the second week is almost as hard as the last, so I think we can already see significant gaps in the general classification in the next few days. I feel it will be an interesting week, I can't wait to see how it goes, especially for the time trial in Peyragudes."

A 10.9-kilometer time trial, a climb with an elevation gain of 664 meters and an average gradient of 7.8 percent. On this climb, many things can be understood, and Pogacar will be able to measure himself against his rivals.

"The level is really very high in this Tour. We've only done 10 stages, and they've been like a short, explosive, nervous, and stressful race. All teams have shown they can be at the front, they can fight, and yesterday's tenth stage was the first tough day. It was very difficult to control, and we could see that our team is going very well, even though we lost João and Pavel is a bit sick. But yesterday we could see who climbs well, but I don't think it's a true indicator for other general classification contenders. I think the main objective for everyone will be this week with the big mountains and the mountain time trial. I think in the next few days we can evaluate more, but I believe the group of rivals is quite numerous, and it will be a tight fight for the podium and the yellow jersey."