'I still believe we can win' - Vingegaard bullish after Tour de France setback
It was not the day that the Dane had been planning for, but he remains focus on what's to come, with little time to dwell on stage 5.
Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) suffered an unexpected setback in the Tour de France stage 5 time trial, finishing 1:05 behind his eternal rival, Tadej Pogačar, who claimed the yellow jersey after finishing 2nd behind stage winner Remco Evenepoel.
The Dane would have arguably fancied his chances of moving into yellow based on his time trial performance at the Critérium du Dauphiné in June, but things didn't fall into place for him on stage 5 of the Tour de France.
"I just didn’t have the legs today. I lose a bit of time. My legs were not feeling so good and the result is matching my legs," Vingegaard told NOS and other TV stations after the stage.
After being able to match Pogačar's stinging attack on the Rampe Saint-Hilaire in the conclusion of stage 4, Vingegaard didn't have the legs that he was hoping for today, but remained optimistic about the battle ahead for yellow with many more key stages to come.
"I was a bit surprised about my legs yes, but sometimes that’s racing," Vingegaard said. "Luckily the Tour is still long and I still believe in myself, in our plan. I still believe we can win."
Vingegaard finds himself in a similar position to twelve months ago, when he sat 1:15 behind Pogačar after the stage 7 time trial, and while he was unable to overcome the Slovenian in that edition, he did overcome a first-week deficit in 2022 to beat Pogačar and take his first Tour title.
He will be aiming to execute a similar comeback in the mountains this year, which may make the gaps in the time trial look insignificant come Paris, though Vingegaard will obviously hope that he is the one who dishes out the damage.
"Of course one minute seems like quite a lot but in the last years, the Tour has been won by a bit more than that," Vingegaard said.
Vingegaard's teammate Edoardo Affini, spent a long time in the hot seat after a strong ride, eventually finishing 3rd on the stage behind Evenepoel and Pogačar, but the overall feeling in the Visma camp tonight will be glass half empty.
Despite the setback, Grischa Niermann, sports director of Visma | Lease a Bike, remained in fighting spirit in regards to the fight for yellow, "We'll have to attack," he said to reporters.
"This is clearly not the time trial we expected. What does it mean? We're a minute behind," said Niermann in a calm manner about the situation.
Stage 6 looks set to be another day that will draw out the likes of Pogačar and Vingegaard, similar to stages 2 and 4, and with a steep ramp to the finish, there could perhaps be more differences in the GC by the end of Thursday.
Tour de France stage 5: Results and standings
'Arkéa were everywhere' - Podcast Tour de France Stage 7
Stage 7 delivered the fastest opening hour in Tour history, a strong break with Thomas, and a GC shake-up on the Mûr-de-Bretagne. Pogačar took the win and yellow, Vingegaard was close, and Vauquelin moved into third.
