Vingegaard and Visma | Lease a Bike deliberately save energy, but still narrowly avoid crash at the back of the peloton

The summit finish at Vallter 2000 had been removed from the route, turning the day into one for the sprinters instead. Ethan Vernon of NSN Cycling Team eventually took the stage win, and Vingegaard was perfectly happy to accept the change, knowing the strong wind gusts had made a mountain finish impossible.

“I probably saved a lot of energy. Of course, we had hoped for a different finale, but that’s just the way it is,” the Visma | Lease a Bike leader said afterwards to Danish outlet TV2.

In a finale packed with roundabouts, Visma | Lease a Bike deliberately chose to stay near the back of the peloton. “We decided that last night when the route was changed. These are wide roads. There isn’t much risk involved,” said the Dane.

“If there’s a crash, you can ride around it and get back. It’s different in a very technical finale, but today we saw no reason to stay near the front all day. So it’s better to save the stress — and the energy that would cost us.”

Vingegaard still almost got caught up in trouble, however, when Derek Gee crashed and Bart Lemmen was briefly delayed as a result. “I thought: oh, I hope Gee is okay. I think maybe he wasn’t fully focused in that moment. That’s the danger. You have to keep concentration at all times,” Vingegaard said, speaking from experience.

On Friday, Vingegaard will get another opportunity to make his move in the general classification, with a stage featuring around 4,500 metres of climbing and a summit finish at La Molina. “Two very beautiful stages are coming up. We are in a good position, we have seven fit riders, and with that group we will fight over the next two days for the highest possible place in the general classification,” sports director Marc Reef said.

“It was the right decision to shorten the stage. Safety always comes first. Because of the change, we had to adapt our plans. It was clear this was now going to end in a bunch sprint. For us, the important thing was to save energy and guide Jonas safely through the stage. We did that very well.”