So far, Tadej Pogačar has got the better of Jonas Vingegaard, but the Dane’s team may yet be a factor as the race shifts gears.
Gruber Images, Cor Vos
Through one week of the Tour de France, certain truths are emerging in the battle for yellow. Tadej Pogačar is, well, Tadej Pogačar: a fully operational battle station that is formidable and terrifying in all situations.
Remco Evenepoel is who we thought he is. That is, even who he said he is: a guy who knows he’s racing for the podium and whose biggest goal is to improve on last year’s third-place finish. (It says something of the vibes in the race that Kévin Vauquelin said after stage 7 that “I felt like Remco didn’t want me there. He was afraid, because he rode at the front the entire climb for the GC.”)
The wild card is Jonas Vingegaard.
Yes, he had a bad time trial and is in fourth, staring at a 1:17 deficit to Pogačar. Yes, he hasn’t managed to out-place his rival on a single stage of note yet. And yes, Pogačar was better on long climbs in last month’s Critérium du Dauphiné.
Visma ‘not looking for excuses’, already planning to strike back
Jonas Vingegaard admits he didn’t have the legs, and doesn’t necessarily know why.
But Vingegaard is far from out of this thing, and as the race starts to swing south toward the mountains, a possible leveler is coming into view: team strength.
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