In the Pyrenees on Sunday, the Visma-Lease a Bike rider lost time for the second day in a row, but he will continue to challenge
Nothing will emerge from nothing. This proverb, taken from King Lear’s opening scene, also applies to the current, real-time Tour de France.
It is not enough for Jonas Vingegaard to do nothing except watch Tadej Pogačar ride on. It wouldn’t be a Tour de France if the Visma-Lease a Bike rider didn’t try to confront him and take the fight to him. This is not the Giro d’Italia, where Pogačar of UAE Team Emirates could ride away with this; well, he still can, to some extent, but at the greatest race of them all, there’s a rider on par with him who is willing to try to catch up.
Stage 15 to Plateau de Beille on Sunday proceeded according to Visma-Lease a Bike’s plan. After dropping Vingegaard, Matteo Jorgenson pulled for the first twenty minutes of the climb, turning the race into a fight between Pogačar and the Dane. The strategy was successful; nonetheless, Pogačar proved to be more powerful—by more than a minute.
After the performance, Vingegaard told ITV Sport, “I never doubted in our plan.” “For the past two years, our well-thought-out plan has shown to be effective. We know that I’m capable of handling a lot of fatigue, and I proved that today as well, so no, I’m not dissatisfied and I have no regrets. We executed the strategy flawlessly—even beyond its expectations. It’s only that he was superior. Congratulations.
“We discussed it [before to the race], and Matteo completed the required 15–20 minute effort from the bottom. He put in a more impressive effort than we discussed, as did the other people today; the squad performed incredibly well. Like I mentioned, I’m not at all disappointed.”
This lack of disappointment is interesting. Though one can only perform to the best of one’s abilities, Vingegaard must find it frustrating that he cannot match the man he has defeated in the last two Tours de France. Considering the gravity of the April disaster at Itzulia Basque Country, it is amazing he is here at all, yet this must still be a depressing circumstance.
Although it makes sense that there was a bad attitude at the Visma team bus, Vingegaard and his group presented a more upbeat image. Obviously, six days remain, with four challenging general classification days to complete the Tour. But 3:09 is a significant difference to close.