Stage 15 didn’t bring any major changes for the general classification, but the leaders of the race still had to stay on guard. Especially when a crash occured in early parts of the race, with numbers 2 and 3 overall; Jonas Vingegaard and Florian Lipowitz involved.The yellow jersey Tadej Pogacar paid back the other GC men for waiting when he crashed the other day, but he was also shocked that Vingegaard’s own teammates attacked with their leader off the back. “I can hardly tell what they’re thinking,” he told TV2. “There was a moment when Vingegaard tried to come back after the crash, while three Visma riders were up front. Tim and I, from that group, tried to calm things down so everyone could get back.”
But contrary to his expectations that Vingegaard’s teammates would wait to help him cruise back to the main bunch efforttlessly, the Visma | Lease a Bike riders continued to launch fireworks at the front with Wout Van Aert and Victor Campenaerts eventually joining the day’s breakaway.
Visma’s back-up leader Matteo Jorgenson who fell through the GC ranks was also involved in these activities. “I didn’t know what to think. I blocked Matteo, so the three of them couldn’t continue. Maybe I helped Jonas by doing that, because it was a pretty strange situation. If I were in Jonas’s position, I wouldn’t be the happiest at the dinner table tonight. Because I think he can still win the Tour.”
Generally speaking, it seems as though Visma | Lease a Bike have already given up on the overall victory a bit with Vingegaard’s teammates investing a lot of energy in efforts that don’t necessarily seem to help the Dane improve his position in the general classification.
That catches Pogacar quite off-guard, sensing that his rival has been gradually improving during the second week: “He’s second in the general classification and showed really good form on Saturday. I understand they want to win stages, but they could also win the entire Tour de France. I wouldn’t be happy with that.”