Dropped by Pogaċar again, but Vingegaard is staying positive after stage 10: 'My legs are getting better and better'

Cycling
Tuesday, 14 July 2026 at 19:50
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Visma | Lease a Bike had the tenth stage of the Tour de France under control for a long time, but in the end, the Dutch team let it slip away. Jonas Vingegaard not only lost time to an incredible Tadej Pogacar, but in an uphill sprint, he even had to let Remco Evenepoel, Paul Seixas, and Florian Lipowitz pass him. IDL Pro Cycling caught the Visma reactions.
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Vingegaard and Visma | Lease a Bike already knew what was going to happen before Stage 10. “You have to be there today; this stage is going to be important for the general classification,” predicted team director Marc Reef before the start, standing by the team bus. “The penultimate climb will be crucial—that’s where we need to be with Jonas. The climbs are a bit longer than in the first week, which suits him better.”
It was indeed on the Col de Pertus where it happened. On the 4.5-kilometer climb with an average gradient of just over 8 percent, Visma | Lease a Bike boldly put a rider at the front, and for a brief moment, the group led by Davide Piganzoli seemed to be thwarting an attack by Pogacar. That attack came anyway, however, and Vingegaard didn’t react for a moment.
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"When he went, I knew I had to ride at my own pace. From there, I thought I’d have to ride a time trial all the way to the finish, but luckily I got some help on the final climb,” the Dane analyzed afterward. In fact, all the other competitors joined forces, but Pogacar was simply too strong. “It was an okay day for us; it could have been much worse,” Vingegaard said nonetheless.
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Vingegaard wants to look up the standings, but feels the heat

“My legs are getting better and better,” the Visma leader also said. He was actually quite positive. It was no surprise, then, that Juan Ayuso of Lidl-Trek praised Vingegaard’s efforts after the stage. Pogacar was simply even better, as was the explosively fast sprinter Remco Evenepoel. “I’m looking forward to the longer climbs. Hopefully we have some great weeks ahead of us.”
Reef saw the teamwork once Pogacar had broken away. But he also saw that Vingegaard still had to do most of the work in the chase during the final stretch. “We knew that could happen; we had to accept it. The others are fighting for the podium, and with Jonas—that’s cycling. Sometimes you use someone else’s energy to gain an advantage at the finish.”
"We're here to win the race. We've tried to do that, and we'll keep trying," Reef continued, just as he had said before the stage. “But we also have to be realistic; Tadej is the strongest right now. Congratulations to him and his team, but we don’t feel like we’re fighting a losing battle yet. Tadej was stronger twice, but the finish is in Paris.”
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