Jonas Vingegaard finished 37 seconds down on Tadej Pogačar, lost a further 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, yet appeared the best of the rest on stage 4 of the 2024 Tour de France.
With the European football championships ongoing, football analogies are frequent at the Tour and Vingegaard claimed he felt he was only 1-0 down to Pogačar while it could have been 3-0 after he was only able to train for six weeks after his terrible Izulia Basque Country crash.
“We expected to be 3-0 behind, so maybe that’s a small victory,” Vingegaard said post-stage, better than any defeated football player.
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“We came here believing we’d lose time in three of the first four stages, so to lose time on just one is pretty good in my opinion. We thought we might lose two minutes or more, so only 50 seconds behind is quite good. Our time will come.
“I was doubting myself going into this Tour but it's not like he was a lot stronger uphill. I would have liked to close the gap instead of it opening. I would have liked to stay with him but that’s life.
“The Tour is long and we'll do our best. We know what to do. We believe in our plan, like in the last two years and we’ll see at the end of the Tour.”
Vingegaard was the only one able to go with Pogačar when he attacked in the final kilometre of the Col du Galibier but then he lost his wheel in the final hairpins as Pogačar accelerated with anger and speed.
The two raced a pursuit match on the 20 km descent to the finish line but Pogačar gained second after second, both taking huge risks. They touched speeds of 90 km/h but Pogačar gradually opened a gap.
Vingegaard was eventually caught by Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step), Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) and Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers) on the descent and could only finish fifth on the stage.
He lost two seconds to them at the finish line and also failed to pick up any bonus seconds. Evenepoel took eight seconds for second on the stage and so moved to second overall at 45 seconds. Vingegaard is third overall at 50 seconds.
Visma-Lease a Bike boldly wrote ‘All to play for’ on social media but the first mountain stage of the Tour de France indicated that while Vingegaard was good, he was a level below Pogačar.
“Most of the time I lost today was on the second part of the downhill, not the first, where weight matters a bit more,” Vingegaard claimed
“Pogačar has a bit more gravity that works for him and so he took time. I can only accept that.”
Pogačar was able to attack after his UAE Team Emirates squad made everyone suffer in the headwind up the valley to the foot of the Galibier, especially so on the climb. Vingegaard was soon alone.
Matteo Jorgenson did what he could to protect him but the American was spat out of the group five kilometres from the summit. Vingegaard defended his team in public but Visma-Lease a Bike appear to be far weaker than UAE Team Emirates this year.
“It always helps to have a helper and maybe I would have put him on the front to ride. It was how it was today,” Vingegaard said.
“I know that Matteo (Jorgenson) and Wilco (Kelderman) can do. I’m sure they’ll be there later in the race.”
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