It was on this climb that Vingegaard struck the decisive blow on the 2022 Tour, taking a minute out of Pogacar as the Dane won stage 18 en route to clinching his first Tour title.

“I was trying with my head through the wall to get back the yellow jersey [in 2022] but Visma was too strong back then,” said Pogacar, 26.

“I almost forgot about that. I was just looking forward to today, then all the people, all the time were, coming to me saying ‘oh yeah, this is the revenge time’, blah blah blah.

“Then when we approached the bottom of the climb it was the reverse story of a few years ago. One Belgian guy again on the front, Tim [Wellens], and our team. I’m super happy to take time [out of Vingegaard] and win on this climb.”

The race moved into the Pyrenees on Thursday, with the Hautacam being the first hors categorie climb of this year’s Tour.

Wellens and UAE Emirates-XRG team-mates Jhonatan Narvaez and Adam Yates were all at the front of the peloton to help Pogacar launch the attack that saw him overtake local rider Bruno Armirail, who led going into the final climb, and leave behind his GC rivals.

Pogacar dedicated his third stage win on this year’s Tour – and his 20th overall – to Samuele Privitera, the 19-year-old Italian development rider who died after a crash at the Giro della Valle d’Aosta on Wednesday.

Evenepoel recovered from being dropped on the earlier Col du Soulor climb to reduce the damage on the 180.6km stage from Auch.

The Belgian, who finished third behind Pogacar and Vingegaard on his Tour debut last year, is now more than four minutes down but will hope to cut the gap on Friday’s time trial having won the first time trial of this year’s Tour.

Healy also struggled in the Pyrenees heat, which reached 34C, and the Irish breakaway specialist lost more than 13 minutes to slip back down to 11th in the GC standings.