'This race will make me better' – Jonas Vingegaard 'calm' amid Tadej Pogacar's Dauphiné dominance

Jonas Vingegaard suffered a heavy defeat to Tadej Pogačar at Combloux at the Critérium du Dauphiné on Friday afternoon, but the Dane was sanguine about the situation before the start of stage 7. 

After losing a minute to Pogačar on the two-part climb of the Côte de Domancy and Côte de la Cry, Vingegaard had opted to avoid media duties, just as the Slovenian had preferred not to speak following his setback in the midweek time trial.

At the sign-on in Grand-Algueblanche on Saturday morning, however, Vingegaard expressed satisfaction with his own level of performance the previous afternoon. Pogacar was simply on another plane.

“To be honest, I think I can be happy with my performance,” Vingegaard told reporters. “I think I did a pretty good performance so far. I think Tadej was just stronger yesterday and I have to accept it.”

Vingegaard and Pogačar have dominated the Tour de France in the 2020s, and they will again line out as the favourites this July. When Vingegaard was soundly beaten by Pogačar last year, he could point to his injury-ravaged build-up as mitigation. The size of his deficit at Combloux, however, is surely a worrying omen ahead of this year’s race, even if Vingegaard shook off the idea.

“For now, it’s calmness,” Vingegaard said. “I know this race will make me better. That’s the plan we always had, to use this race also as some kind of training for the Tour and then the last bit [of training] afterwards. So for now, we stay calm, we do our thing and then we see in the Tour.”

Pogačar’s performance on the Côte de Domancy was visually striking, given that he remained in the saddle as he rode Vingegaard off his wheel. Asked if the level of performance was similar to that at Plateau de Beille on last year’s Tour, Vingegaard indicated that it was in the same ballpark.

“I think it was pretty close,” Vingegaard said. “I didn’t have my powermeter, but that’s no excuse at all, it’s still about going full to the finish, so it didn’t slow me down at all. But I think it was also really good power numbers from me and from Tadej as well. Of course, it’s quite a lot shorter than Plateau de Beille, half the time, so in that case it’s a bit hard to compare.”

While Vingegaard came up short against Pogačar at Combloux, the collective strength of his Visma | Lease a Bike was evident in solid showing from Matteo Jorgenson, Ben Tulett and Sepp Kuss.

Vingegaard enters the final weekend of the Dauphiné in second place overall, 43 seconds down on Pogačar. While the Tour is the overarching objective, he hasn’t yet given up on the Dauphiné. Saturday’s mammoth stage over the Col de la Madeleine and Col de la Croix de Fer to Valmeinier 1800 will reveal more.

“I’m still here to try to go for the win. I still think my shape is good. I’ll do everything I can,” said Vingegaard, who was coy about his strategy. “I have a plan. You will see what the plan will be.”