Wellens breaks away and wins. Vingegaard crashes, Pogacar waits for him | Alaphilippe celebrates, but he's only third...

CARCASSONNE – Belgian champion Tim Wellens was alone in Carcassonne. Pogacar's UAE team rider attacked from his breakaway group with 42km to go and arrived with his arms raised, after shaking hands with spectators in the final kilometre. His compatriot Campenaerts was 1'28" behind him. The others in the breakaway followed, with Alaphilippe beating Van Aert for third place and celebrating as if he had won. There was little fighting among the men in the overall standings. Pogacar celebrated his team's 65th victory of the season with Wellens and arrives at the second rest day wearing the yellow jersey. The Belgian national champion is the 113th rider in history to achieve the goal of winning at least one stage at the Giro (2), Tour (1) and Vuelta (2).

The beautiful gesture

Pogacar was able to resist Vingegaard for the favor the Dane performed in the Toulouse stage. Back then, it was Vingegaard who stopped the peloton and allowed Tadej to rejoin. This time, it was the Slovenian who waited for Jonas, who had fallen early on but returned without any apparent physical problems. A quiet day after the Pyrenean exertions. Now, it's a rest day at the start of the final, very tough week: Tuesday sees the climb of Mont Ventoux.