Paul Rouget, Media365: published on Monday July 1, 2024 at 12:12 p.m.
If Tadej Pogacar has already taken the yellow jersey during the 2nd stage of the Tour de France, his great rival Jonas Vingegaard was able to follow him, and he is “in great shape” according to the Slovenian.
As could be expected, the first explanation on the Tour de France between Tadej Pogacar, winner in 2020 and 2021, and Jonas Vingegaard, double title holder, took place on Sunday from the second stage, on the coast of San Luca, before the victory of Frenchman Kévin Vauquelin. During the first ascent, the Slovenian, new yellow jersey, feinted by going to get a bottle, and the Dane followed well. And the latter was still on the heels of the leader of the UAE Team Emirates when he really attacked in the second ascent of this two-kilometer climb at an average slope of 10.6%, with passages at almost 20%.
“We see that he is in great shape”
But what did “Pogi” think of the performance of his rival, whose form was inevitably doubted after his serious accident at the beginning of April on the Tour of the Basque Country, during which he fell heavily and had to undergo surgery after suffering several broken ribs, a pulmonary contusion and a pneumothorax? “In the final circuit, I felt very good and the pace was already very high the first time on the climb of San Luca because of the work of Visma. Then, the second time, we decided to try to attack to test me a little. Jonas Vingegaard jumped on my wheel very quickly. You can see that he is in great shape”, Pogacar stressed.
“Very close to my usual level”
Vingegaard was therefore very reassured about his form, explaining that he had “a very good day”. “It was one of the days where I expected to lose time on Pogacar, so being able to follow him is a victory for me. It was one of the stages that I feared the most. When Pogacar attacked, I was able to follow him. At the top, I decided to ride with him, explained the Visma-Lease a Bike rider. It’s difficult to start a race when you don’t know how good you are. I trained for a month and a half, so it was very difficult to say where I would be. I also doubted myself, that’s not a lie. But now I can say that I’m back, and I hope we’ll have three good weeks here. In any case, I’m very close to my usual level.” It’s promising…
