Jonas Vingegaard is on the verge of an explosive last sprint in this year's Tour de France.

On the eve of his final dance, the Dane, and his main rivals, just completed one of the fastest stages in history on Friday, saving their legs for a 13:43 lead over winner Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious).

Vingegaard (Jumbo Visma) responded with typical brevity at his daily press conference as race leader when asked about the 133.5 km from Belfort to Le Markstein-Ferraring ski resort on Saturday.

"I think tomorrow will be a really explosive race. It's the last mountain stage and I think the guys in the bunch are saving their legs for tomorrow."

The defending champion team compared Saturday's stage to last year's Autacam stage, which had six or more mountain stages.

The 26-year-old Vingegaard is more than seven minutes ahead of Pogachar and UAE Team Emirates teammate Adam Yates, who are second and third overall, respectively. But Merijn Zeeman, Jumbo-Visma's sports director, said there is still a lot of competition ahead.

"It's a very hard stage," Zeeman said.

"The mountains jersey, the stage win, various positions from 10th on GC to the podium.

"We will follow our plan and race as we always do, but there are 22 teams in cycling and I think we will see a lot of different things tomorrow with a lot of different interests. I think we will see a lot of different things tomorrow with a lot of different interests.

Pogachar kept his cards close to his chest when asked about tactics after admitting to a yellow jersey fight on the slopes of the Col de la Rose on Wednesday.

"It's going to be pretty tough. I hope my legs, my body, and my mind are recovering," said the Slovenian. 'It's been a tough couple of days.'

Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) was more open about his plan of attack. The injured Australian, whose high-speed crash on stage 14 gradually dropped him from third to seventh overall, showed signs of improvement at the Col de la Rosé and will be ready to compete.

"I think I'm all-in, regardless of my physical condition. It's only 130 kilos and I have nothing to lose' But I think we all do."

There is a big gap in the GC top 10, but there is still room to move. The battle for the polka-dot jersey is also close, with Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) holding a slim six-point lead over AG2R Citroen's Felix Gall, who took a stage win in Courchevel earlier this week.

"After the queen stage, after the victory, of course we are all tired. Just looking forward to when it's all over."

Character will be the talk of the third and final stage of this exhausting mountainous Tour, and character may again be a priority on Saturday.

However, after leaving the Alps, climbers will have a two-day "recovery" period. Rolf Aldag, sport director of Bora-Hansgrohe, believes that the nature of this year's route has affected the rhythm of the race.

"The level of the group is such that everyone recovers in the sprint stages and puts more effort into the mountain stages," Aldag said. [The next day, the next day, the next day, the next day ...... You don't have the constant fatigue like, "I'll be in the group for two days, rotating my legs with my teammates, and then on the third day I'll get back into the groove. I think that affects the rhythm of the race and how hard the mountain stages are."