Vingegaard: I’ve been able to follow all Pogacar’s attacks at Tour de France

"That we have a strong team and my legs were good," was Jonas Vingegaard's response when he was asked by reporters what he had learnt Monday after an attritional stage 10 on Bastille Day. 

Visma | Lease a Bike were key animators on the first mountain stage of the 2025 Tour de France, with Simon Yates taking the stage honours, with the Dutch team also being very active in the GC group behind.

Visma | Lease a Bike rode aggressively, using Vingegaard's key teammates to attack in the GC group, in an attempt to put pressure on UAE Team Emirates-XRG and isolate the yellow jersey, Tadej Pogačar. In the end, Pogačar and Vingegaard crossed the finish line atop Le-Mont-Dore together, with the Dane gesturing for a handshake across the line, which he duly received from the Slovenian. It was a stalemate, but Vingegaard took a positive outlook at the end of the stage, speaking to reporters.

"Yeah, I mean we wanted to have a good man in the breakaway, we had Simon [Yates] there, it’s incredible that he won the stage, I’m really extremely happy for Simon," Vingegaard exclaimed.

"It was an incredible day for us winning the stage, and also for me personally, I’m happy with my legs, how I felt today, so we can say it was a good day," Vingegaard added.

Despite multiple attempts made by Vingegaard's teammates Matteo Jorgenson and Sepp Kuss to apply pressure during the stage, UAE Team Emirates-XRG maintained control of the race, and even when he became isolated, Pogačar remained calm and even launched an attack which distanced all but the Dane. 

“I mean, of course, UAE had a very strong team, and Pogačar had to do a bit of work himself, they were very strong and very good at defending today, they did super well, and hats off to them," Vingegaard explained, giving credit to his eternal rival and the yellow jersey's team, after an agressive race from Visma | Lease a Bike.

It was clear that Vingegaard was in good spirits, and he was asked to expand on his day in the saddle and his overall feelings ahead of the first rest day on the Tour. 

"Of, course, it was a super hard day, all day was really up and down. I'm just super happy with how it went today, Simon winning, but also my own legs," said Vingegaard.

Vingegaard illustrated that his legs were good as Pogačar was unable to dispatch of the Dane when he launched his attack in the closing kilometres, and Vingegaard was asked to explain the positivity despite being behind Pogačar in the general classification.

“I mean, of course I’m still behind, of course I have to take time at one point," Vingegaard admitted. "But so far this Tour de France, I’ve been able to follow all of his attacks, which I couldn’t do in Dauphine, which shows I have a better level now than in the Dauphiné," he added.

Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) has moved into the race lead after a determined ride from the breakaway and now leads Pogačar by 29 seconds. Vingegaard was asked if he would have liked to keep the Slovenian in yellow, and if that was part of the motivation for Visma's attacks, but the Dane insisted that it wasn't part of the game plan.

“No I mean that’s not the reason we were attacking, we were attacking to try to put some pressure on," Vingegaard said.

"Of course, I mean if he would stay in yellow, he would have to do the podium ceremony every day, so, obviously, I think that takes some energy, but we don’t think about that and sticking to our own plan, and that was to put pressure on UAE today," the Dane explained.

Ahead of the first rest day, Vingegaard sits 4th in the general classification, 1:46 behind Ben Healy, but more crucially 1:17 behind Pogačar, whilst his American teammate Jorgenson sits a further 20 seconds behind in 5th with crucial tests in the Pyrenees to come in week 2.