Vingegaard’s final weekend plans don’t sit well with Riis: "Never heard of the Tour's runner-up acting like this"

Vingegaard finished second behind Thymen Arensman on La Plagne. “Of course it's a bummer. I tried to play the game on the last climb, and I was more focused on winning the stage than on gaining time,” he said. “It's unfortunate that Arensman was there, of course. But he rode hard today.”

“I think the battle is over now. It will be difficult to do anything on Saturday and in Paris, I think,” Vingegaard told TV2 after the stage to La Plagne. “I prefer to ride more safely, so I could very well end up at the back, because I'm a bit in no man's land now. I have to accept that Pogacar is better, and I'm doing that now.”

Riis couldn't believe what he heard from the Visma | Lease a Bike man. “No man's land, what's that? I've never heard of a runner-up in the Tour de France riding at the back of the peloton. What's that?” said the Dane in his column in B.T.. With the comment 'no man's land', Vingegaard is referring to the 4.24-minute gap behind Pogacar and the 6.45-minute lead over third-placed Florian Lipowitz.

“That he accepts that the other guy is stronger, fine. But that he rides at the back and finds himself in no man's land, I don't think that's right. I mean, honestly...,” said Riis. “He has to defend his position. Something is lacking, something is not right.”