While losing 50 seconds to Tadej Pogacar, the 2023 champion remains positive.
In the 2024 Tour de France, Jonas Vingegaard appeared to be the best of the rest on stage 4, despite finishing 37 seconds behind Tadej Pogacar and losing an additional 13 seconds due to time bonuses on the high-speed race over the Col du Galibier and on the descent to the finish in Valloire.
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Football parallels are common at the Tour, where the European football championships are currently being played.
Vingegaard stated that, despite only being able to train for six weeks following his horrific crash in the Izulia Basque Country, he felt he was just 1-0 behind Pogacar.
More appropriately than any beaten football player, Vingegaard stated after the game, “We expected to be 3-0 behind, so maybe that’s a small victory.”
“I think it’s quite excellent that we lost time on just one of the four stages, when we arrived here thinking we would lose time on three of them.
We were expecting to be at least two minutes behind, so only fifty seconds is quite fantastic. It will be our time.
“I had doubts about myself before this Tour, but it wasn’t like he was much more powerful riding uphill.
Instead of the distance widening, I would have preferred to see it narrow. Though life happens, I would have preferred to stay with him.
We’ll try our hardest, but the Tour is lengthy. We are aware of what to do. As we have over the past two years, we are confident in our plan, and we will see at the conclusion of the Tour.
When Pogacar attacked in the last kilometer of the Col du Galibier, Vingegaard was the only one who could keep up with him, but in the last hairpins, Pogacar accelerated with such speed and rage that he lost control of the wheel.
Both competitors took significant risks as they raced in a pursuit match down the 20 km course to the finish line, with Pogacar coming in second after second. Even though they were traveling at 90 km/h, Pogacar eventually pulled away.
Remco Evenepoel, Primos Rogic, Juan Ayuso, and Carlos Rodríguez eventually came up to Vingegaard on the descent, and he was only able to finish sixth on the stage.
After finishing second on the stage in eight seconds, Evenepoel moved up to second place overall in forty-five seconds. At fifty seconds, Vingegaard is third overall.
Visma: Rent a Bicycle boldly posted on social media, “All to play for,” but the Tour de France’s first mountain stage revealed that, although good, Vingegaard was not on the same level as Pogacar.
“I lost most of my time today on the second downhill, not the first, where weight matters a little bit more,” asserted Vingegaard.
“Pogacar took his time because he had a little more gravity that suits him. That’s all I can accept.
After his UAE Team Emirates squad caused everyone to suffer in the headwind up the valley to the foot of the Galibier, particularly on the climb, Pogacar was free to launch an attack.
Soon, Vingegaard was by himself. Despite Matteo Jorgenson’s best efforts, the American was ejected from the group five kilometers from the peak.
Although Vingegaard publicly defended his group, Visma-Lease a Bike doesn’t seem to be as good as UAE Team Emirates this year.
“Having an assistant is always beneficial, and perhaps I should have placed him to ride at the front.” That’s the way things were today, Vingegaard stated.
“I have faith in Matteo Jorgenson and Wilco Kelderman’s abilities. They’ll undoubtedly show up later in the race.