Two years ago, Tadej Pogacar toppled Primoz Roglic in brutal fashion in the Tour de France's final time trial, but on Thursday (NZ time), it was the defending champion who was on the receiving end of a beating, when Roglic's Jumbo-Visma team made him crack in the mountains.
Roglic, runner-up in 2020, sacrificed his own chances when he attacked relentlessly with Jonas Vingegaard some 90km from the finish of the 11th stage to put Pogacar under pressure.
The Dutch outfit went all in, taking the risk that their move could backfire, in order to seize control of the Tour midway through the second week on a stage that ended at the top of the punishing Col du Granon - an 11.3-km ascent at 9.2 percent - at 2,410 metres.
The attacks had started on the Col du Telegraphe and continued on the long ascent to the Col du Galibier, culminating at 2,642 metres, but Pogacar had at first followed easily after being isolated from his UAE Emirates team mates.
His yellow jersey zipped up despite the heat and a smile on his face, the Slovenian looked comfortable when he started the climb to the Granon.
But having had to cover every move from Roglic and Vingegaard, the 23-year-old was left stuck on the tarmac when the Danish rider launched yet another brutal attack, 4.9km from the line.
The smile made way for a mask of pain and despair, and Pogacar opened up his jersey, looking for air and perhaps hope.
Vingegaard was flying and he crossed the line two minutes and 51 seconds ahead of Pogacar to take the yellow jersey.
"I was a bit surprised that the time gaps were this big and on the other hand it was a super super hard stage," said Vingegaard.
"At the bottom of the Telegraphe we had already attacked and again on the Galibier. We had planned to make it hard today. The harder it is the bigger the gaps in the end and it was to my advantage."
The strategy could have backfired and Vingegaard risked paying for his own efforts.
But having already finished runner-up last year behind Pogacar, he was ready to risk losing the Tour in order to keep his chances to win it alive.
"Primoz and I have already been second on the Tour," said Vingegaard.
"I wanted to try everything to have a chance of winning the Tour and rather risk losing it instead of finishing second again (in Paris). So that's what we did today and it shows how good a team we are."
Jumbo-Visma, however, are aware that Pogacar will not go down without a fight.
"He's probably the best rider in the planet," the 25-year-old Vingegaard said.
Thursday's 12th stage is another brutal day in the mountains, which finishes at the iconic Alpe d'Huez, a 13.8-km ascent at 8.1 percent, featuring 21 hairpins to the top.
Reuters.
