![\"TadejPogacar_JonasVingegaard\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/tadejpogacar-jonasvingegaard-687530d8c0ffd.jpg@webp.webp\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Ahead of the stage, Riis had warned Vingegaard against poking the bear on stage 10, and admits that was probably the wise move. “Many fans were likely disappointed that Jonas didn\u2019t attempt an attack of his own. And perhaps, in hindsight, staying put was the wiser option. It didn\u2019t look pretty, but it may have been the smart move \u2013 avoiding the risk of a counter-attack from Pogacar if he\u2019d launched and been reeled in,” he explains. “Still, I\u2019m left puzzled by one thing.”<\/p>\n
You see, whilst Riis was concerned about Vingegaard being countered pre-stage, the Dane believes if his compatriot is really feeling as good as he says he is, this was a big chance missed. “After the stage, Jonas could hardly contain himself, saying he was feeling ‘insanely strong’. To me, that rings a little hollow when he didn\u2019t make a single attempt to put Pogacar under pressure,” says Riis. “You simply can\u2019t claim to be flying and then not attack. In my view, that\u2019s a mistake. It also falls a bit flat when, as Team Visma | Lease a Bike did, you hype up the stage as wild and spectacular \u2013 only for absolutely nothing to happen in the end.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“Frankly, I\u2019m disappointed to hear Jonas talk about how strong he\u2019s feeling without backing it up with action. He needs to believe he can survive a counter-attack from Pogacar. But right now, it doesn\u2019t look like he dares to test it,” he continues. “Just the other day, I explained how Jonas needs to take risks \u2013 that he must be willing to lose seconds in pursuit of gaining minutes. Maybe he would have lost 10 seconds trying to attack Pogacar \u2013 but at least he would have forced him to dig deep.”<\/p>\n
“Don\u2019t get me wrong \u2013 I\u2019m not saying it was a mistake for Jonas not to attack. It only becomes a mistake when he then claims he was feeling fantastic. From where I\u2019m sitting, Vingegaard simply doesn\u2019t have much of a choice at the moment. As long as Pogacar is in this kind of form, there\u2019s no beating him,” Riis clarifies. “The only logical explanation I can see for Jonas not attacking is that he didn\u2019t want to expose himself \u2013 and it does make sense to conserve energy. He\u2019s clearly betting on being able to make a difference in the final week. That\u2019s a valid strategy, and we\u2019ll just have to be patient back home in our living rooms.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ahead of the stage, Riis had warned Vingegaard against poking the bear on stage 10, and admits…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":266810,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4104],"tags":[4230,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-266809","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114863372084124500","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266809\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/266810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}