Visma less confident than Vingegaard himself about Tour stunt: "But we're definitely up to something"

Vingegaard was definitely positive after losing 2.10 minutes to Tadej Pogacar in stage 12. “We bounced back today,” said the Dane, who lost 36 seconds to Pogacar with a time trial bike and helmet, which he believes offers room for improvement. “To come back like we did today is very good for us; we can be happy with that. Today I was back to normal. I just have to keep trying.”

Because the Vingegaard we saw on day 5 in the time trial and on day 12 on Hautacam was not the Vingegaard we know he can be, according to the man himself. "Yesterday was a terrible day for us. On the final climb, I felt pretty good, but suddenly the lights just went out. That was very disappointing, but yesterday's level was not my normal level. I haven't lost faith in myself yet. I believe in the level I have.”

Looking for explanations for a second off day in this Tour, Vingegaard joined the reporter from Eurosport. "I don't think it was the heat. I don't have an answer for you right now, and I'm not sure what it was. It was my second bad day in the Tour this year; I don't normally have any. I hope I don't have any more bad days. Is the Tour over? Of course not. We must continue to try and believe that we can still make a difference in this race. The whole team is very strong, we just have to show it in the coming days."

Grischa Niermann was also sticking to what Vingegaard had shown in the climbing time trial on Friday after the thirteenth stage. "Jonas rode a very good time trial, but it wasn't enough to win. That was to be expected, as Pogacar has shown who the strongest is. So we can be satisfied with that. He's gaining a lot of time on his opponents after not being at his best yesterday," the German told NOS.

Niermann was also asked if there was an explanation for the two minutes Vingegaard lost to Pogacar on Thursday. The answer was much the same: "We could see from his values in the last kilometers that it wasn't his best performance, we also saw that from Florian Lipowitz, who almost came back. Pogacar was fantastic, and when you lose time, it's mentally challenging to bounce back.“

Niermann did not make any bold statements; according to him, the current situation is clear. “Jonas remains a fighter and is still in second place. We are not thinking about giving up and going home, but our dream was to win the Tour. Pogacar is just so good that it seems difficult. We'll make another plan for Saturday tonight; we have a lot of good and strong riders. But we're definitely up to something."