Jonas Vingegaard has thus far minimised the impression of his horrible Itzulia Basque Country crash through the 2024 Tour de France, displaying spectacular type after simply six weeks of coaching and limiting his losses to UAE Team Emirates’ Tadej Pogačar to simply 50 seconds.
On Thursday, Vingegaard and his Visma-Lease a Bike staff navigated the flat stage to Dijon with obvious ease, ensuring they have been united and on the best facet of the cut up that shaped in a quick second of crosswinds. Christophe Laporte and Matteo Jorgenson then escorted him to the end line, as Wout van Aert was given a quick second of freedom to contest the stage 6 dash.
It was a day of relative ease for Vingegaard. However, Friday’s 25.3km particular person time trial by way of the Cote d’Or Bourgogne crimson wine area of central France might be a real race of reality.
There might be no peloton for the Dane to cover in, no teammates to guard him. It might be Vingegaard towards the clock and towards race chief Pogačar, world time trial champion Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep), Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and all the opposite GC contenders.
All of Vingegaard’s rivals have accomplished pre-race reconnaissance rides of the time trial course, however his crash with the ensuing many weeks in hospital and rehabilitation left him no time to journey to the Cote d’Or to see the route.
Vingegaard confronted a potential night reconnaissance automobile journey on Thursday, or may wait till Friday morning for a trip when the course is closed.
“I have not seen the time trial course but, solely on video. I ought to have been there to do a recon of it however then I crashed and could not do it,” Vingegaard admitted to Cycling Weekly after stage 6.
“I believe it is barely hilly, not so technical, however it will likely be fairly a quick time trial I believe.”
Vingegaard begins his trip at 16:56 native time, 4 minutes behind Roglič. Behind the Dane, Evenepoel takes the course after which Pogačar, the ultimate rider on the course. It is unclear how a lot Vingegaard has been in a position to practice on his time trial bike after his punctured lung and fractured ribs at Itzulia Basque Country in early April.
In 2023, Vingegaard arrange his general victory with a dominant efficiency within the hilly 22.4km Passy to Combloux time trial within the Alps. He gained 1:38 on Pogačar and three minutes on everybody else, earlier than Pogačar famously cracked on the next day’s stage to Courchevel.
This yr, the time trial tables have turned. Pogačar seems to have improved his time trialling and his tools, successful the primary time trial within the Giro d’Italia and solely narrowly being defeated by Filippo Ganna within the second.
The basic classification and Vingegaard’s general ambitions of a 3rd Tour victory might look very totally different on Friday.
“I believe usually Tadej is all the time doing fairly good time trials. So for positive he might be good, as will Remco,” Vingegaard predicted.
“I assume Remco would be the large favorite. I’ll simply do my greatest after which we must see what the outcome might be.”
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