On the phenomenology... of the Pogacar phenomenon, already yesterday on the website of the Rosea, Ciro Scognamiglio had provided an in-depth interpretive contribution. "Tadej has reached 15 victories out of 22 days of competition in 2026. Unstoppable. Already at the World Championships in Kigali he presented himself at the start as the defending champion and the ride the previous year in Zurich had been legendary: 100 kilometers of breakaway, 51.5 solo". Disarming is what the Gazzetta emphasizes, which on the print version ("Jonas's Plan") supports Vingegaard's hopes that this Tour is not already archived prematurely.

On the pages of the Corriere, Marco Bonarrigo gives the headline writer reason to praise Merlier and criticize the Italian contingent, "still in anonymity". And then there's the furnace in which they race: "Already well-cooked after Pogacar's outbursts on every little hill present on the course, Tour participants now have to deal with the heat 'exceptionally intense' (source Meteo France) that is melting the asphalt in the center of the country and multiplying wildfire hotspots".

If, on Il Giornale, Pier Augusto Stagi recalls the self-consoling words of Mago Merlier ("I won two sprints out of three, I'm happy despite Belgium's elimination at the Worlds"), it is Giovanni Battistuzzi on the Foglio Sportivo who shifts the hands of time to the dawn of the Tour: when the Massif Central had been discovered by a certain Monsieur Edgard Philippe Moncut, whose exploration of all the Alpine peaks was a great inspiration for a certain Henri Desgrange.

Reading l'Equipe, the variety of points of interest - as always - flows not only into purely competitive facts, because the Tour is the Tour. The reader encounters a singular description of potatoes à la sarladaise mentioned by the lead correspondent Alexandre Roos: for the record, they are sautéed in a pan with goose fat. Not exactly light food recommended during the heat wave. Then, just to please, an article that perhaps conceals a bit of malice towards the Belgian cousins, already struck down by the national football team's defeat. The last time a Belgian wore the yellow jersey: 50 years ago, it was Lucien Van Impe.

GAZZETTA DELLO SPORT
JONAS'S PLAN
Don't tell Jonas Vingegaard that the Tour is already over. The defending pink jersey wearer won't hear of it, and his most recent words confirm it: "On the Tourmalet I don't think I had a bad day. Pogacar was stronger than me and I have to accept it. I don't give up, I keep believing. The road that will take us to Paris is still long". Even at the finish in Bergerac – which saw Tim Merlier's second consecutive sprint victory – the two great rivals marked each other closely. Pogi, always in the yellow jersey, finished in the group, 49th. The Dane, 2nd overall at 2'42", 51st: between the two, Edoardo Affini, Vingegaard's trusted lieutenant. The Boucle will rest tomorrow for the first of two rest days, meanwhile the scales tip decidedly in favor of the world champion. (Ciro Scognamiglio)

CORRIERE DELLA SERA
MERLIER REMAINS UNBEATABLE IN THE SPRINT. POGACAR THINKS ABOUT THE NEXT CLIMBS. ITALIANS IN ANONYMITY
Already exhausted after Pogacar's attacks on every little hill on the course, Tour participants now have to deal with the heat "exceptionally intense" (source Meteo France) that is melting the asphalt in the center of the country and multiplying wildfire hotspots. Today for the first time in the history of the Grande Boucle the route of the ninth stage from Malemort to Ussel, New Aquitania, was reduced from 185 to 155 kilometers cutting the most at-risk areas. The start time was moved forward, measures also multiplied to prevent cyclists and spectators from overheating: "The entire region has been classified as a red zone by the Government – explained the boss of the organization Christian Prudhomme – and reducing risks for athletes and spectators is the only responsible solution. When I communicated it to Pogacar, he thanked me on behalf of the entire caravan. We are making enormous efforts against climate change, distributing two million caps to spectators to protect them from sun and 450 kilos of ice per day to the riders". (Marco Bonarrigo)

IL GIORNALE
FOR MAGO MERLIER ANOTHER WINNING SPRINT
He hoped to celebrate his Belgium's passage to the next round, but in the end Tim Merlier had to once again come up with something to lift his spirits. And since he's a fast guy, Mago Merlier pulled the umpteenth winning sprint out of the hat. Three sprints, two victories for the Soudal Quick-Step rider (the fifth in his Tour career). "I won two sprints out of three, I'm happy despite Belgium's elimination at the Worlds", explains Merlier, the invisible man, who does everything on his own without a lead-out train. (Pier Augusto Stagi)

IL FOGLIO
THE MASSIF CENTRAL IGNORED
Monsieur Edgard Philippe Moncut was a wealthy gentleman who never needed to work and precisely because he never needed to work he was among the pioneers of anything. At least in France. He had created a map with all the main trails of the Alps and Pyrenees, all traveled by him in two years, before the French Alpine Club had even been created (he completed it in 1870, the CAF was founded two years later, editor's note). In 1880 he completed the ascent of the main peaks of France, Switzerland and Italy (and some routes still bear his name, editor's note). In 1890 he had completed the exploration of France by bicycle, publishing a small booklet, Chercher la route, which Henri Desgrange, the man who would invent the Tour de France thirteen years later, considered for a long time "one of the guide texts that inspired the creation of the race". (Giovanni Battistuzzi)

L'EQUIPE
ENERGY SAVING
Beyond the suffocating heat, similar to that of an oven, and the scorching air that tightened their throats, the riders had to face the vision of Périgord: a region in full vacation atmosphere, dotted with castles and magnificent villages with ochre-colored stone houses and sloping roofs, all nestled along the Dordogne and its tributaries, where people splashed in the water or slid on the current aboard canoes. The group resembled a herd exhausted by the heat wave, driven by the crowd as it advanced towards summer pastures; spectators sought a bit of shade or, failing that, subjected themselves to the experience of roasting like potatoes à la sarladaise in that gigantic pressure cooker. (Alexandre Roos)