Jonas Vingegaard knows his weakness after Stage 2 of the Tour de France: "It’s not my strongest point"
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Follow us on GoogleJonas Vingegaard claimed the yellow jersey on Saturday after the team time trial in the Tour de France. The Dane from Visma | Lease a Bike isn’t one to get carried away, but one thing is certain: after Stage 2 in Barcelona, he’ll definitely have both feet back on the ground. At the yellow jersey press conference, Vingegaard came across as generous and honest.
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Marc Reef had already stated on behalf of the Dutch team prior to the stage that they would not take control. According to Reef, the conditions weren’t entirely in Vingegaard’s favor either: it was hot in Catalonia, which made it more of an all-out effort rather than a race of attrition over multiple laps.
The team leader was right about that. Right up until the final climb up the steep side of Montjuic, the pace was relentless, with the stage ultimately decided by a single spectacular move. Vingegaard was no match for Isaac del Toro and Tadej Pogacar of UAE Emirates-XRG, while Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) also stayed ahead of him.
Read more below the video!
Jonas Vingegaard's press conference, Tour de France Stage 2
"I was able to keep up well on the climb, but the final sprint was very explosive. That’s an anaerobic effort, and to be honest, it’s not my strongest point. So yes, if I’m being completely honest, I’m pretty satisfied with how it turned out in the end,” says Vingegaard, a pure climber, offering his honest assessment of the Olympic-like stage in Barcelona.
He leaves it open as to whether he would have preferred to lose the yellow jersey. “As I mentioned yesterday and again this morning: I’m enjoying every day in the yellow jersey. Of course, at some point it might be tactically advantageous to give up the jersey, but for now I’m just enjoying it,” said the Dane, who seems eager to lose the jersey on Monday. “I’m going to enjoy every day. After all, you never know what will happen in life. None of this is a given, so I’m just going to enjoy it to the fullest.”
Read more below the photo!
Vingegaard is still wearing the yellow jersey.
This doesn’t really change much in terms of Visma | Lease a Bike’s tactical considerations. “Our lead isn’t very big, of course, so the situation is more or less unchanged. I don’t think this will really change our approach. But anyway, I’m certainly not going to reveal our tactics here.”
So Vingegaard has to admit, quite honestly, that he hasn’t learned much more. Not even when it comes to the legs of his main rival, Pogacar. “Well, this time he didn’t attack on the climb himself. Because of that, we haven’t really been able to see exactly how strong he is right now, but of course the same goes for how strong I am. Time will tell.”
In any case, the fact that Pogacar let Del Toro take the win didn’t surprise him. “No, not really. I think Tadej is a great guy. It’s incredibly generous of him to let a teammate win a stage. But to be fair: that teammate really deserved it, too. He’s incredibly talented and incredibly strong. It was an impressive ride by both of them.”
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Tom van der Salm (27) comes from the charming town of Zeilberg (Deurne) in the Netherlands and has been working as editor-in-chief & journalist at IDL Pro Cycling's parent site, In de Leiderstrui, since 2019. He travels with the peloton from the Tour de France to the AlUla Tour and from the World Championships in Rwanda or Canada to the Zilvermeercross in Mol. In his spare time he enjoys playing football, mountain biking, running, walking with his Labrador/Stabyhoun, investing, holidays, (specialty) beers, reading, cooking and watching sports & documentaries!
Contact: [email protected]
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