'Happy I could make a difference' - Jonas Vingegaard buoyed by attack on opening day at Critérium du Dauphiné

Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) put to bed any initial doubts about his shape from a recent lack of racing on the opening stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné. The Dane launched an explosive attack over the summit of the Côte de Buffon with just over 5km remaining and he was joined by a world-class group that featured Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) and Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious).

"I had a good day to be honest. So I’m happy with how it went today," Vingegaard told reporters at the finish. "I'm happy that I could make a difference.” 

Vingegaard could also joked about his high position on a stage that was meant to be for the versatile sprinters. The peloton closed to within touching distance of the break in the finishing straight, but they stayed clear to fight out the win. "I guess it’s the first time I finished second in a bunch sprint, so yeah, I’m happy," Vingegaard said. "Tadej was just faster than I was, so congrats to him."

When asked about the cooperation between the front group and how that enabled them to hold off the sprinters, Vingegaard was quite honest about his own contributions. He admitted that he was hesitant to cooperate with his rivals on a flat stage as he felt he would have the least to gain.

Vingegaard conceded four seconds in time bonuses to Pogacar, but he picked up six bonus seconds of his own for his second-place finish. After a combative performance on the opening stage, the scene is set for a thrilling Dauphiné and Vingegaard is set to play a key part. 

"Yeah, it’s true. I mean, I guess I was the one cooperating the least because I thought that I would be the loser of the sprint, at least I was compared to Tadej," he said. "So I lose four seconds, obviously, that’s of course not ideal. I thought I would actually get no seconds in the end, but yeah, to get six bonus seconds is quite good, I would say."