Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) lost another 54 seconds to his eternal rival Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) on stage 10 of the Tour de France as the Dane failed to do anything in face of the Slovenian’s stage-winning attack on the final climb to Le Lioran.
Pogačar won by 32 seconds ahead of the chasing group – but that 32 seconds was to second-placed Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), and Vingegaard actually finished last of that group, another 12 seconds back after looking empty in the finale. He had done a lot of work in the chase which possibly cost him in the very final few hundred metres as he could not accelerate when the other riders sprinted for bonus seconds.
Vingegaard did enough to hold onto second overall, but now has a 3:36 deficit to Pogačar, and is only 30 seconds ahead of third-placed Evenepoel.
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“When he [Pogačar] went, I realised I had to do just my own pace. From there I was thinking it was going to be a time trial for me to the finish, but luckily for me I could get a little bit of help on the last climb,” Vingegaard told reporters and TV cameras at the finish.
“I think it’s an OK day for us, it could be a lot worse, that’s for sure.”
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The hilly day to Le Lioran looked like it could have been a breakaway day, but UAE Team Emirates-XRG clearly wanted no respite from the GC battle, and shut down the attacks to set-up an overall fight on the final climbs.
Featuring more medium Massif Central ascents than mountains of the Pyrenees or Alps, the punchier style certainly suited Pogačar’s abilities more than Vingegaard’s which certainly helped temper his reaction.
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“I think in the end it was not too bad of a day. Shorter climbs like this is not what suits me the best, so obviously I had to fight today,” he said. “To come away with a smaller loss like this is something I can be happy with.”
There was also not too much frustration about losing time in the final sprint, as being in a larger group of GC riders ultimately helped Vingegaard in the finish.
“No, not at all,” he said when asked if it was frustrated to be pipped to the line right at the finish. “They also helped me throughout the last climb, so thank you to them. Then once it got steeper I said ‘OK, I’m going to do my pace, what I can do to the top and to the finish’. They started sprinting, so I just wanted to get to the finish as quickly as possible.”
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Vingegaard’s support suffered a blow earlier in the stage when Matteo Jorgenson crashed on a corner in the final 30km, meaning he had to rely primarily on Davide Piganzoli, who was a key domestique for the Dane at the Giro d’Italia but a late call-up to the Tour de France team.
When Pogačar attacked in the final 10km of the stage, Vingegaard still had Piganzoli with him, but simply had nothing to offer to try and follow or close down the move. Settling into the chasing group of other GC contenders, none of them could do much to chase down Pogačar, though they did limit his gains to under a minute.
Despite being in a far-from-ideal position after 10 stages, two-time winner Vingegaard was – as he often is – upbeat and not defeated by further time losses.
“I think my legs are getting better and I’m looking forward to the longer climbs.,” he said. “Hopefully we can have some good weeks.”
Whether the coming weeks can be good enough to turn around a 3:36 deficit, though, is another question.
Tuesday’s stage offered up a stark contrast to the last time the Tour finished in Le Lioran, when Vingegaard beat Pogačar in a two-man sprint in 2024.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Unlike previous stages, where Vingegaard has chased Pogačar solo, on Tuesday he linked up with his fellow GC rivals, but there was mixed cooperation in the group, with Visma DS Marc Reef suggesting that some riders are already riding for only places on the podium, not for the yellow jersey.
“We knew that there was a part coming where we maybe could work together to close the gap, that’s also how we motivated Jonas, they came closer, but on the last climb the gap increased again and it was difficult to come back,” Reef explained about the chase.
“At the first moment yes [they worked together],” he continued. “But I also think that they are riding for the podium, and that’s their decision. We are here to win and that’s also how we motivated Jonas, we also spoke about it yesterday, to keep fighting to the line and that’s something that he did, so no regrets.”
Within the Visma camp there is clearly a balance between seeing the reality that Pogačar is currently a level above, but also not settling on racing for second place.
“At this moment, Pogačar is a lot stronger, and big congrats to him, but we are not in Paris yet, and we will keep fighting – but we also have to be realistic of course,” Reef said.
“I think that it was a very hard day. Jonas did a great job, he fought all the way to the line, but Pogačar was stronger,” was his summary of the latest battle between the eternal rivals.
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