After the first rest day of this year's Tour, the peloton faces a 166.6-km ride between Aurillac and Le Lioran, featuring 3,800 metres of elevation, on France's Bastille Day holiday.
"This certainly brings back memories. Vingegaard and Pogacar had an epic battle here last time," Tour racing director Thierry Gouvenou said.
In the 11th stage of the 2024 edition, the Dane sealed his fourth stage win on the Tour in spectacular fashion. Initially dropped by Pogacar with 30km to go, the Visma-Lease a Bike rider caught his rival on the next climb with less than 15km remaining and shockingly outsprinted him at the finish.
"It's, of course, very emotional for me," Vingegaard said at the time. "I would never have thought this three months ago."
Earlier that year, the twice Tour de France champion had suffered a broken collarbone, multiple fractured ribs, a pulmonary contusion and a collapsed lung during a devastating crash during the Tour of the Basque Country.
"I think that day and that victory really show what kind of character he is," Visma-Lease a Bike sports director Marc Reef said. "He came back from such an injury and even in the stage itself he got dropped but fought back to win in the end."
Two years on, Pogacar holds a commanding lead in the general classification, two minutes 42 seconds clear of Vingegaard, who wore the yellow jersey briefly in the race's opening days.
Reef believes the stage still carries emotional significance for both riders.
"It means a lot for Jonas to finish there again but it also means something for Pogacar, I think, because he was beaten by Jonas over there," he said. "For sure, something will happen in the GC."
Tour racing director Gouvenou expects no other scenario.
"Knowing Pogacar and his thirst for revenge, the tactic will be simple: go all out for the stage win," he said. "His team will do everything to set him up to avenge his last defeat to Vingegaard in Le Lioran."
But the UAE Team Emirates-XRG leader, who has already secured two stage wins in this edition, played down talk of vengeance.
"It's a different stage. I'm not seeking any revenge or whatever. It was a good day at the time," the four-time Tour de France winner said.
Bastille Day would fire up the home competitors, Pogacar predicted, saying: "We can expect big fights for stage victory from French riders."