Some pundits and peloton may have already declared that this year's Tour de France will feature two separate battles for the yellow jersey and a battle for third place.

Hindley, 27, held on to third place overall despite falling behind Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo Visma) and Tadej Pogachar (UAE Team Emirates) on the steep slopes of the Puy de Dome on Sunday.

Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) is 2:40 behind defending champion and race leader Vingegaard and 2:23 behind Pogachar after nine stages, but Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers), Pogachar's teammates Adam Yates and Simon Yates (Jayco Alura) are next in the overall standings, more than four minutes ahead.

Pogachar, the first Australian to win the Giro d'Italia, has kept expectations low in his first Tour appearance in just over 12 months. He won stage 5 and wore the yellow jersey for a day at the Tour, where he has already shown the strong, if understated, conviction that brought him the maglia rosa.

"I'm feeling pretty good, still fresh and ready to race harder," he said. 'At the moment I'm not really concentrating on the final result. I'm not too focused on the result right now. I just want to do my best every day and take every chance I get [because] there's a long way to go and I don't think the race is over by any means. I think these top two have shown that they are on our level, but the race is still on and a lot can happen. There are a lot of riders in the top 10 who are still out of contention and I'm not going to leave anyone out."

In preparation for the Tour, Hindley spent five to six weeks on the road with Bora-Hansgrohe coach Hendrik Werner; the two worked to sharpen his strengths and weaknesses and conducted physical course reconnaissance, including multiple stages in the first and third periods of the race.

The latter already bore fruit with Hindley's solo victory in Larns. Bora-Hansgrohe was aware at the time that he would not be able to defend the yellow jersey until Paris, but hoped to keep it until Sunday. Hindley was caught by Vingegaard and Pogachar in Tourmalet on stage 6, but was unfazed by that and focused on smart work as well as hard work.

"Tourmalet was the first mountain I rode as a kid, so it's really cool to come back in the yellow jersey and to ride that climb in a race is really special. It's really fun. Really," Hindley told a press conference on Monday, the first rest day of the Tour.

"The first nine days were really hard, and personally, I've been giving it my all when I had to, and being modest when I could. I think that's really important.

Hindley had no intention of joining the breakaway group that won stage 5, but is focused on making the most of the opportunity and showing his stuff in the third week of the Tour.

"Generally in the Grand Tours, you come into your own in the second and third weeks of the race and find your best legs.

"Being in great shape from the first week is not something that usually happens in a Grand Tour. I'm usually a little bit out of shape and then I pick it up, but hopefully that trend will continue and I'll be in good shape for the second half of the race. "

Speaking earlier in the week, Werner reflected on Hindley's natural leadership skills, racing instincts, and resilience within the team, having just joined last season.

"His resilience stands out compared to the others. Sometimes I talk to the doctors, and when he finishes, they're like, 'Oh, crap, we'll do it tomorrow.'

"So he can really sustain a lot. That's a big asset. I think he's really, really cool. And by cool I don't mean just laid back, I mean he has the ability to let go. He makes decisions, he has to make critical decisions in races, but I get the impression that he doesn't look back too much after the race, that even if he regrets it, it doesn't change the decision he made."

The Tour resumes on Tuesday, with some lumpy stages scheduled for the second term.

"Every day at the Tour is really tough. Also the sprint stages are really hard. Not the sprint stages, not the mountain stages, but the intermediate stages in between, which are the trickiest and also the hardest.

Simon Yates, who showed his strength despite being involved in a crash on the Puy de Dome the day before, is among the rivals, but the gap in the overall battle is already huge.

"I think the gap to the others has closed considerably, but with Jai [Hindley] having won the stage, there is a gap of over a minute and a half.

"Unfortunately yesterday I crashed and lost almost a minute. Today I caught up with Jai." I'm also a bit behind Carlos Rodriguez. So we'll see what happens in the next few weeks.