Past the end line at Isola 2000, Jonas Vingegaard stepped away from the Tour de France for a second and into the arms of his spouse Trine. The defence of his title ended additional down the mountain, however defeat takes nothing from the that means of his journey over the previous three months, from a hospital mattress in Vitoria to a dizzying contest for the yellow jersey.
After a time, Matteo Jorgenson made his approach over to Vingegaard and draped a consoling arm round his workforce chief’s shoulder. The American endured heartbreak of his personal on Friday, lacking out on stage victory when he was caught and handed by a rampant Tadej Pogačar close to the summit, however his solely thought right here was to supply a salve to the dejection of Vingegaard, who now lies 5:03 down general. “Hey, I’m pleased with you,” Jorgenson stated. “You gave all the pieces, that’s all that issues, actually.”
Wilco Kelderman was subsequent in line to supply his solidarity, and Vingegaard managed a skinny smile of gratitude when he noticed his Visma-Lease a Bike teammate strategy. “Thank you, Wilco,” he stated rigorously. “Good job right this moment.”
It wasn’t supposed to finish like this. Vingegaard started the day 3:11 behind Pogačar however nonetheless nurturing the ambition – or extra precisely, the dream – of snatching the yellow jersey from his rival. Stage 19, which introduced the Tour over the Col de Vars and the mighty Cime de la Bonette, provided the terrain for him to take action.
As they’d accomplished on the Col du Granon stage two years in the past, Visma-Lease a Bike had devised a particular playbook for the event, dispatching Kelderman and Jorgenson up the street within the early break, which was propelled clear by one other of their quantity, Christophe Laporte. The plan was apparent, however its execution was provisional.
“If I might simply print out my plan after which execute it on the PlayStation, that will have been the plan,” directeur sportif Grischa Niermann stated afterwards. “But it didn’t work.”
The intention was for Vingegaard to assault Pogačar and bridge as much as his teammates on the higher reaches of the Bonette, some 2,800m above sea stage, however lightning by no means appeared prone to strike twice right here. The energy of Visma’s thought couldn’t presumably compensate for the deficits in Vingegaard’s vitality.
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Somewhere on the Bonette, with 60km or so nonetheless to race, Visma radio earpieces crackled into life. Vingegaard confirmed what his workforce already suspected. He couldn’t summon the energy to tackle Pogačar. His assault on the Tour was over.
“In the tip, Jonas needed to make the decision himself,” Niermann stated. “I can not really feel his legs, he is aware of it higher himself. He was not sturdy sufficient to observe Tadej, that was clear. We knew it earlier than the ultimate climb, so we switched plan.”
Following Evenepoel
Out in entrance, Jorgenson now had the liberty to chase stage victory at Isola 2000. Behind, Vingegaard grimly set about following Pogačar for so long as he might on the ultimate haul to the road. Each man should have identified there was a grim inevitability about how his afternoon would end.
When Pogačar lifted himself from the saddle with a shade underneath 10km to race, Vingegaard instantly yielded, preferring to observe Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) than attempt to pursue the yellow jersey. Vingegaard would attain the summit with Evenepoel, 1:42 down on Pogačar, who had cruised previous Jorgenson contained in the final 2km.
By then, Vingegaard had already made his peace with the concept he wouldn’t win a 3rd successive Tour. Perhaps part of him had guessed as a lot even earlier than this race started, after sustaining a punctured lung in that April crash, however he railed in opposition to the percentages from Florence.
“I got here to this Tour de France with the mindset to go for the win, however I additionally knew that it might be exhausting with the dearth of preparation that I had,” Vingegaard stated. “We knew it could be a risk, so I used to be prepared for it mentally.”
Vingegaard’s Tour participation was solely confirmed in mid-June, however he exceeded expectations in his joust with Pogačar within the opening half of the race, culminating in his dramatic victory at Le Lioran on stage 11. Since final weekend’s doubleheader within the Pyrenees, nonetheless, an abyss has opened between the highest two within the general standings. As ever, the Tour’s third week has delivered an unsparing verdict.
“I feel Tadej is on a brilliant excessive stage. I used to be additionally on a brilliant excessive stage for the primary two weeks and now a bit much less,” Vingegaard stated. “I feel it’s regular with solely one-and-a-half months of preparation that one thing would meet up with me. I at all times stated from the beginning, it might be loopy if I might combat for the win with one-and-a-half months of preparation. I did it for two-and-a-half weeks. Now the combat for the win is over. But the combat for second and third just isn’t over…”
Indeed, on the ultimate climb, Vingegaard was extra involved with defending his second place from Evenepoel – third general at 7:01 – than limiting his losses to the unassailable Pogačar. He is aware of, too, that Evenepoel will hope to wrest second from him on the Col de la Couillole on Saturday and within the closing time trial in Nice.
“I wasn’t on day, and midway by way of the stage, I needed to change my mindset from making an attempt to go for the win,” Vingegaard stated. “That was additionally why we had Matteo and Wilco within the break, to have satellite tv for pc riders if I needed to go. But I needed to change my mindset. Instead of attacking, I needed to observe as an alternative. I feel tomorrow will in all probability be the identical for me.
“I stated earlier than that I needed to danger the second place for victory, however when you’ve got the legs that I’ve in the meanwhile it’s important to attempt to accept second.”
In reality, the writing was on the wall since final weekend. “We noticed within the final days that Pogačar is stronger,” Niermann admitted. “We nonetheless had hope for right this moment, however in the long run, it’s important to be life like. At the second, Jonas is the second-best rider on the market.”
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