Jonas Vingegaard enjoyed the break from chasing seconds with the two most important women of his life.
After a short training ride on the first rest day of the previously nerve-racking Tour de France, the defending champion spent a few quiet hours with his wife Trine and daughter Frida. The two had already received him at the top of the legendary Puy de Dôme, where the 26-year-old had to deal with the next setback in a duel with Tadej Pogacar.
Vingegaard is only 17 seconds ahead of the two-time champion from Slovenia. The trend: Pogacar is getting better every day, Vingegaard has already been unable to follow two attacks. The Dane, who is always at peace anyway, sees things a little differently. “I’m happy to have the yellow jersey after the first week. The stages so far have suited Tadej better than me. I’m looking forward to the Alps,” said Vingegaard, admitting: “It will be a bitter fight to the end.”
Riis with doubts
Bjarne Riis is less optimistic. The first Danish tour winner – at that time in the jersey of the Telekom team – saw unexpected weaknesses in his compatriot. “No doubt the heat took its toll on him. It’s never good to lose time on your biggest rivals but he contained the damage,” the 59-year-old wrote in his BT column. “Tadej Pogacar has tasted blood. I think he’s a little mad at himself for not attacking sooner.”
The fight seemed almost decided after the first mountain stage. Vingegaard took over a minute from Pogacar. The unanimous opinion was that the 24-year-old was still suffering from the consequences of a scaphoid fracture sustained at the end of April. But Pogacar hit back in champion style, winning the next two mountain finishes. The difference in performance between the two high-flyers is marginal, currently probably the eight seconds that Pogacar Vingegaard took before the rest day.
There has long been talk of the closest result in Tour history being beaten: in 1989, winner Greg LeMond was eight seconds apart from Laurent Fignon. In France, home of the Tour, the duel attracts the masses and, despite the start of the holidays and temperatures above 30 degrees, lures them to the track and in front of the television. On Sunday, eight million watched when the Puy de Dôme was scaled for the first time in 35 years.
Good TV ratings
In Germany, the ARD also achieved a top value. The transmission on Sunday saw an average of two million people, which corresponded to a market share of 14.2 percent. However, the tour was embedded in a long sports afternoon with the finals.
Pogacar, meanwhile, is in a perfect position. Mentally, because the two mountain top finishes were definitely effective hits at Vingegaard. Tactically, because he doesn’t have the yellow jersey (yet) and thus saves his team a lot of work at the front of the field. After his training break of several weeks and due to the lack of racing practice, he had already counted on getting in better shape over the course of the tour. “I’m very happy that I can put Jonas under pressure,” said Pogacar. “I’m here to win.”
In the second week of the tour there should be a little breather in the duel for seconds. The stages up to Thursday are designed for breakaways and sprinters. In addition, the heat hanging over the central massif should only be discharged in a thunderstorm on Wednesday.
On Friday it will become clear whether Vingegaard’s anticipation of the Alps is justified. The stage ends on the more than 17 km long Grand Colombier. The Dane shouldn’t lose any more time on the arrhythmic climb of the highest category. His focus should be on the final week when it comes to the 2304 meter high Col de la Loze. In terms of height, as the Tourmalet has already shown, the defending champion obviously has advantages over Pogacar.
