A few bruises and a sore knee, but Vingegaard and passive Visma | Lease a Bike secure the red jersey

“To be honest, you don't just let a stage victory slip by,” the Dane began his flash interview when asked if he and his team were going for it. Vingegaard did win a time trial in the Tour of the Algarve this year, which also earned him the overall classification. But apart from a team time trial win in Paris-Nice, he had to settle for a lot of top places and, above all, second places behind Tadej Pogacar. “When I saw the opportunity, I wanted to take it. I'm pleased with this victory.”

“It's been a while since my last victory. I'm super happy with how I feel and also how the team did today. I'm also very happy with the red jersey,” said Vingegaard, who emphasized in the press conference that he and Visma | Lease a Bike did not want to ride for the stage victory at any point. “I don't want to say that I really needed this victory; otherwise, we would have chased as a team. We didn't do that because we are going to choose our battles in this Vuelta.”

“Today we didn't want to waste too much energy,” he said clearly. And so the stage victory came, and the red jersey came in on economy mode. A nice result, Vingegaard agreed. “The final was very tough, with a consistently high pace. Drafting was a big advantage for a long time, but with 200 meters to go, Giulio went for it and, to be honest, I didn't think I could catch him. However, after the last corner, I saw that it was further to the finish than I thought. That allowed me just to pass him.”

It was a much-needed victory for the Dane, especially after he and teammates Axel Zingle, Sepp Kuss, and Matteo Jorgenson were involved in a big crash earlier in the stage. Did that cause any serious injuries? “I don't think so. I crashed pretty hard, but it doesn't seem like I'm in too much pain,” Vingegaard said reassuringly. “Of course, I have some bruises, but I think I slid more because it was so slippery. That's why I don't really have any abrasions or anything.”

Still, he had to push through a barrier after getting back on his bike and being greeted by the peloton. “At first, you feel a little stiff, and when I got back on the bike, I felt my knee a little. But then it quickly got better, so I got away with just a few minor scrapes and no major consequences.” And so he keeps the red jersey, which he doesn't actually need to wear for another 19 days. “It's still a long way to Madrid, so we'll take it day by day and decide later whether we want to give up the leader's jersey in a good way or not.”

Bram van der Ploeg (Twitter: @BvdPloegg | e-mail: [email protected])