Vingegaard plans to attack and understands Pogacar's criticism of Visma | Lease a Bike: "Sports directors must take responsibility"

Vingegaard emphasized once again on Sunday that he was not himself in stage 12 to the top of Hautacam. Just as he did in the time trial on day 5, he lost a significant amount of time, and Pogacar continued to increase his lead. The Slovenian from UAE Team Emirates-XRG also owes his current lead to those two days, as well as the mountain time trial on day 13, knowing that Vingegaard kept up with him on all the other days. “I still think I have a chance to win the Tour,” the two-time winner said enthusiastically.

What is that based on? Well, Vingegaard has said before that he is better than ever. The legs just have to show it in the third week. “I'm getting better and better and believe I can be stronger in the third week; I don't normally get weaker. We have a plan, and I'll have to execute it, but it looks difficult due to a few bad days that I don't normally experience. I don't have an explanation for that, but we'll need to investigate it further. Was it fueling? The heat?”

“I can move past it because it's just not my level, and I know that. The Hautacam climb was one of my worst performances in the Tour de France ever.” And so Visma | Lease a Bike will continue to support Vingegaard in the third week, the team leader himself announced. “Yes, the whole team is part of our plan. The stages in the Alps are super tough, and we haven't deviated from our original plan yet.”

At Monday's press conference, Vingegaard discussed his plans for the rest of the race. “The third week is always my strength in a Grand Tour, and I feel myself growing in this Tour,” he was quoted by AD as saying. “It's a big gap, and I did expect Pogacar to be this good. He's even better than he was in the Dauphiné, but the difference is only this big because I had two bad days. I'm willing to risk my second place to go all-in for the overall victory.”

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So, the whole team is supporting Vingegaard. This makes Pogacar's criticism of Visma | Lease a Bike all the more interesting. After the fifteenth stage, the yellow jersey wearer did not understand why the Dutch team was attacking with so many riders, while Vingegaard was held up in the opening phase by a crash in the peloton. “There was a moment when Vingegaard tried to come back after the delay caused by the crash, while three of Visma's riders were at the front.”

Pogacar claimed that he and Tim Wellens tried to slow down the leading group, but the riders from Visma | Lease a Bike did not. "I didn't know what to think. I blocked Matteo (Jorgenson, ed.) so that all three of them couldn't pull away. Perhaps I helped Jonas with that, as it was a rather unusual situation. If I were in Jonas' situation, I wouldn't be the happiest person at the dinner table tonight. Because I think he can still win the Tour.“

“I understand that they want to win stages, but they can also win The Tour de France. I wouldn't be happy with that,“ Pogi added. Confronted with those words, Vingegaard responded with understanding: ”I think he's criticizing my team more than me. I was alone for a moment after the crash, and I think the sports directors should have sent one or two riders back from the breakaway group. But we'll talk about that later.“

Vingegaard doesn't blame the riders in light of Pogacar's comments. ”It's the responsibility of the sports directors, so the conversations with them will be most valuable. If I don't get back into the peloton with three teammates, you have to make a decision." Vingegaard, therefore, emphasized that he will need everyone in his team to win the Tour. “We can't wait to attack until the final climbs.”

In response to the commotion, sports director Grischa Niermann of Visma clarified the situation on Monday during a press conference. “I made the decision yesterday to let them race at the front because I expected the group with Jonas to easily catch up after the crash.”