• Wednesday, July 3, 2024 at 11:57 AM
Interview After four stages in the 2024 Tour de France, Jonas Vingegaard is now fifty seconds behind in the general classification. In the climb over the Galibier, the Dane limited the damage. However, it became clear that his team Visma | Lease a Bike was struggling.
Only eight seconds. At the top of the Galibier, Vingegaard did not lose sight of his great rival Tadej Pogacar. In the last kilometre it was bending, but not breaking. In the almost twenty kilometre long descent, Pogacar managed to further deepen that gap by almost half a minute.
How could he do that? Not by taking bigger risks or using better descending techniques, assures Visma | Lease a Bike team leader Arthur van Dongen. “That is due to a considerable weight difference between Vingegaard and Pogacar. Pogacar is also a bit more explosive. After a sharp hairpin bend, he can immediately, bam, accelerate at full speed. Mathieu van der Poel can do that too. Vingegaard loses out there. It’s as simple as that.”
Despite the loss of time and a provisional third place in the general classification, the team continues to radiate confidence. They are not shocked by the loss of time. Chief team leader Grischa Niermann hinted that they expected a bigger difference.
The roles have been reversed
The first mountain stage confirmed what many already thought. UAE Emirates is by far the strongest team at the moment. Uphill, there is little to be said against their superiority and number. Not even by the riders of Visma | Lease a Bike, who were able to do so in the last two editions.
It meant that on the flanks of the Galibier the consequences of the many setbacks this season were unmistakable. “Sepp Kuss had always ridden with those last eight riders. We miss him of course. And he is irreplaceable”, according to Van Dongen.
UAE Emirates called the shots in the first mountain stage of this Tour – photo: Cor Vos
Steven Kruijswijk and Dylan van Baarle, both of whom dropped out of the Critérium du Dauphiné, were also scheduled to ride the Tour. They were intended to be a pillar of support for their Danish leader in the mountains. Their replacements did not come out of the opening weekend unscathed. Wilco Kelderman has been riding with large plasters on his shoulder, arm and knee since the first stage due to a fall. Wout van Aert and Matteo Jorgenson were also on the ground when the Tour was still in Italy.
Due to the murderous pace in the opening phase of the Galibier stage, Van Aert had to let go early. His attempt to catch the early breakaway came at a price. Before the Tour, the Belgian star said that he wanted to be important at key moments, but that he had never started the Tour with such poor preparation.
Two days after his crash, Jorgenson had, by his own admission, ‘just’ a bad day. The American stayed with Vingegaard the longest, but when UAE took turns at the front with João Almeida, Adam Yates and Juan Ayuso, he had to bow his head. And the same thing happened earlier, logically, with Jan Tratnik and Tiesj Benoot.
Vingegaard suffered an initial blow, but limited the damage – photo: Cor Vos
Creating opportunities in other areas
The next big mountain stage will not be until stage fourteen from Pau to the top of the Pla d’Adet. This means that Visma | Lease a Bike will have ten days to get things in order. With a time trial, the gravel stage around Troyes and possible echelons towards Saint-Amand-Montrond, Visma | Lease a Bike will have to put pressure on the super strong climbing collective of UAE Emirates. That is the only way they can turn things around before the Tour reaches the Pyrenees.
2024-07-03 09:57:00
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