Vingegaard finished fourth, four seconds behind Pogacar, who also picked up a bonus. That left the Dane with a 9 second overall advantage after a stage won by Polish Ineos Grenadiers rider Michal Kwiatkowski.

"It's a start, it was a good day, a small victory but it was worth it," said Pogacar after eking out a small gain on the upper reaches of the 17km brutal climb at an average seven per cent gradient in the Jura mountain range.

On the July 14 French national holiday, the fireworks started when Kwiatkowski broke away on the only mountain on the short stage for his second-ever Tour win.

"That was like full gas racing from the start to the finish," said the 33-year-old Kwiatkowski.

Behind him, Pogacar tore away after a foiled move from his UAE teammate Adam Yates.

At first it seemed that Vingegaard had been distanced, but the defending champion dug deep in the searing heat to limit his losses at the line.

In the relentless tit-for-tat struggle between the two, Vingegaard struck first taking over a minute off his main rival on stage five to move 53sec ahead. But the two-time winner from Slovenia has clawed nearly all of that back with three of his trademark late attacks.