The mood at Visma | Lease a Bike was less good after the fourth stage of the Tour de France than after the trip to Bologna last weekend. While team leader Jonas Vingegaard was able to keep up with Tadej Pogacar back then, the Tour defending champion had to admit defeat to the Slovenian on Tuesday at the Galibier. The total loss: fifty seconds.
“I don’t know if it’s a setback,” team boss Grischa Niermann told several cycling media outlets. “If we had known last Friday that we would be 50 seconds behind Pogacar after four stages, we would have been very happy with that. Of course, it’s a bit of a disappointment now. We had hoped that they would come over the top together, because on the descent it’s not so easy to make up time on someone. But we knew that this could happen. We said that before the Tour and are convinced that Jonas will improve, but today Pogacar was simply better.”
What was striking about the Galibier was that Vingegaard was quickly on his own. Matteo Jorgenson was able to support his leader the longest, although not for very long. The absence of Sepp Kuss, who has served as a reliable domestique in the mountains in recent years, is noticeable, Niermann also admits. “In the end, seven men stayed together for a long time, but we simply don’t have Sepp here. We can’t expect Matteo to be in the top five on every mountain stage, at least not today. However, other riders like Adam Yates have also been left behind. Of course we want to frame Jonas better. Today that just wasn’t possible.”
Visma | LaB domestiques Kelderman and Jorgenson could not support Vingegaard
Jorgenson came in twelfth, 2:42 minutes behind. He was in a group that included Egan Bernal, Geraint Thomas and A. Yates. The American had a fall on Sunday that left him with abrasions. According to Niermann, these do not limit him significantly. “He definitely feels it, that’s normal after a fall. But overall he’s fine. He’s not the best climber in the world,” said the team boss, who does not expect his rider to take on a similar role to Kuss in recent years. “Nice is still a long way off,” the German ex-pro concluded combatively.
In addition to Jorgenson, Wilco Kelderman should be able to support Vingegaard for a long time on the climbs. Like the American, Kelderman also had a crash and, in contrast to Jorgenson, was more affected by it. He had to back off early on the Galibier. “I had some problems with my lower back and stiffness from my crash, just not the best legs. After a kilometer and a half of the actual start of the Galibier climb, six kilometers from the summit, I really started to feel it,” said the stage racer in a conversation with the same cycling media.
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Kelderman was therefore unable to do much for Vingegaard. Pogacar, on the other hand, was well supported up until his attack, by João Almeida and Juan Ayuso and shortly before that by Adam Yates. “They simply have a super strong team, that’s for sure,” Kelderman stated succinctly (Pogacar himself also admitted this at the press conference).
And then there is the Danish leader himself: How did he assess this first punch from the Pogacar camp? “It’s a shame to lose time. But to be honest, we expected to be a bit behind after the first few stages,” he remained calm. “We assumed that we would lose a few seconds in almost each of the first four stages. That only happened on the fourth stage, so that’s actually a small bonus. We can be quite satisfied.”
Vingegaard does not reveal his plan, but is confident that he will do well in the Tour
“I lost the most time on this stage in the second part of the Galibier descent,” continued the two-time overall winner and defending champion. “On these sections, weight played a bigger role than in the first part. Tadej had the advantage of gravity and was able to gain a little more time as a result. I just have to accept that. The descent went quite well in my opinion. Overall, I can be satisfied with how the Tour has gone so far. It’s always better when you have a helper with you who can ride up front. But unfortunately the situation was what it was. I know what Wilco and Matteo can normally do. They will definitely be there later in the race.”
In short, Vingegaard and the Killer Bees are confident that the outcome will be good. “I’m 1-0 down, but I’m fully confident that I can turn it around and grow in the race. According to our calculations, it could have been 3-0, so that’s a small victory,” Vinge emphasised once again.
But what is the key to success in dethroning the untouchable Slovenian? “We know what we have to do to make the plan work. But I won’t tell you that here… In this regard, I am definitely full of confidence. We obviously believe in our approach, also based on the last two editions, which went excellently. We will see,” concluded the ambitious Vingegaard.
