AFPJonas Vingegaard impressed in the second stage of the Tour de France.
NOS Wielrennen•vandaag, 18:29
Jonas Vingegaard was good today, so good that he surprised himself a bit in the second stage of the Tour de France. The Danish title defender was able to keep up with his great rival Tadej Pogacar when the Slovenian attacked on the steep San Luca.
“To be honest, I thought this was one of those days where I would lose time. Being able to follow Tadej was a victory for me,” Vingegaard said.
Vingegaard as good as Pogacar at San Luca: ‘Victory for me, I’m back’
On an explosive, steep climb like the San Luca, following Pogacar would always have been a challenge for the leader of Visma-Lease a Bike. Let alone the inadequate preparation after his heavy crash in the Tour of the Basque Country.
“We tried to keep the pace high from the start of the San Luca. But UAE (Pogacar’s team) took over and they attacked. Fortunately I was able to follow, I can be happy with that. And then I decided to cooperate with him from the top.”
‘Doubted myself’
“I’m happy that I could finish in the same time,” Vingegaard continued. “Today was a super good day for me. I had a month and a half of training, so it was hard to predict where I stood. I doubted myself and that’s not a lie. Now I can say that I’m back. And hopefully I’ll be three weeks Good.”
Pogacar’s first move in Tour: he attacks San Luca, Vingegaard follows
Is his fall in the Basque Country still in his mind while racing? “For a moment, yes. When I hit the ground with my pedal in a bend of a descent. It was no problem, but you then get a small memory of the fall. Fear? No, I don’t feel that.”
Will Vingegaard keep this up? Team is in the dark
“This is the best outcome that could have been,” cheered team manager Grischa Niermann, a mixture of relief and joy in his voice. “This is Pogacar territory. That Jonas can stay on his wheel is super good.”
Team manager Niermann sees ‘super good’ Vingegaard: ‘But we are not counting our chickens before they hatch’
What does this say? “This says that Jonas is in very good shape at the moment. But the Tour lasts three weeks. The day after tomorrow there will be another very tough mountain stage. We hope he will get better, but we don’t know. But with this preparation we can’t guarantee that it will be that way for three weeks.race into the unknown’.”
However, you still need to be careful, because accidents can happen very rarely. Because, like all year long, Visma-Lease a Bike was not spared from bad luck this Tour.
Another crash
“Today another crash with Matteo Jorgenson and Wout van Aert. Matteo said that he took his hand off the handlebars to grab a supply bag and rode into a hole in the road. That’s why Wout also fell. But the damage seems to be limited. Wilco Kelderman was also good despite his crash yesterday. But it’s special: the first three riders to fall in this Tour are all ours.”
Tiesj Benoot, who set the pace at the start of the second passage on the San Luca, also noticed these falls. But what dominated was the joy about his leader. “This is a very nice confirmation of his good feeling from yesterday. And normally that form will continue to grow. We have gained confidence, for sure.”
NOSThe general classification after the second stage of the Tour de France.
2024-06-30 16:29:05
#Joy #relief #Vingegaard #test #Pogacar
