Jonas Vingegaard strikes on ‘super day’ in the Pyrenees

Jonas Vingegaard’s features are taut. With a grim face, he kicks his way through his cooling-down on the roller bench, on a narrow street where there is also a location du ski and a very small movie theater are located, and the mountains tower over the houses on all sides.

Around him are teammates, team members and a cordon of journalists and fans who have gathered. They want to know everything from the Dane about the fifth stage that has just finished in Laruns, about the day on which this Tour de France may already have been decided. But Vingegaard pedals unperturbed, as if he still wants to gain time on his competitors. Only when he looks to the side and exchanges a look of understanding with his Dutch teammate Wilco Kelderman does he relax a bit. And then, very briefly, a smile appears.

The first mountain stage of this Tour de France, one that led the peloton mercilessly over three Pyrenees cols, was a genuine Tour stage; with matches in the match, in which all sorts of things happened. Front runners and pursuers worked together and then again not, one with their sights on the stage victory, the other on the mountain jersey and another on the lead in the standings.

In the end it was a double blow for the Australian Jai Hindley, debutant in the Tour, but also the winner of the Giro d’Italia in 2022. Nevertheless, he was asked by the French media to introduce himself to the French people. “I’m left-handed and like all Australians I love avocado on toast,” he answered awkwardly.

Hindley was part of a big breakaway more than 120 kilometers from the finish and was the only one to hold on. He crossed the line solo, taking his first stage victory and first yellow jersey.

Behind him, in addition to the battle for the stage victory, the mountains jersey and the yellow jersey, a fourth duel unfolded. The one between the top favorites Vingegaard of Jumbo-Visma and Tadej Pogacar of Team UAE Emirates. They already showed themselves to be the two strongest of this Tour last weekend, when they suddenly rode alone in the front on top of the Basque hill Jaizkibel in the second stage after a short breakaway from the Slovenian. That was still too early for Vingegaard, who refused to do head work, so that the duo was taken back.

Matter of patience

At Jumbo-Visma they know that a Pogacar in good shape is the best cyclist in the world, and that Vingegaard cannot beat him in a direct duel. But last year the Dutch team showed that the Slovenian can be cracked through good teamwork, and that his weakness lies in long, high climbs. There are not many such mountains on the course of this edition, so it was expected that the duel between the two favorites would be decided in one or two stages.

On Wednesday morning, Jumbo team leader Arthur van Dongen says that this Tour will be an exercise in patience for his team. “That is the most important thing if you want to be successful in three weeks. You have to trust that your chance will come and then grab it.”

However, there is no question of waiting patiently for an opportunity during Wednesday’s stage. In the hunt for the bonus seconds that can be earned on top of the last climb of the day, the Marie Blanque, a climb of the first category, the Pogacar team is already cycling so fast in the run-up to keep the leading group within reach, that halfway through the climb UAE is smoked out.

Vingegaard feels great at that moment and asks teammate Sepp Kuss to drive the pace. Pogacar finds himself completely alone. And then Vingegaard attacks, nineteen kilometers from the finish. Pogacar cannot follow and on top, a few kilometers further. the gap has increased to about forty seconds.

From prey to hunter

The difference is about as much as two years ago on Mont Ventoux, when Vingegaard jumped away from the famous mountain in the second ascent. Back then he was the challenger, the prey that wolverine Pogacar could and did successfully hunt. Now the Dane himself is the hunter, chasing precious seconds ahead.

In the descent and last kilometers to finish place Laruns, Vingegaard is slightly further ahead, on the line the difference is just over a minute. In the standings he is now 53 seconds ahead of Pogacar, the difference with Hindley, who took over the yellow jersey from Briton Adam Yates, is 47 seconds. Behind that, the competition lags behind rapidly.

Vingegaard doesn’t seem to worry much about Hindley. “Of course we also look at Jai,” he says relaxed, after he has stepped off the roller bench. But it is clear that he is mainly concerned about the gap with Pogacar. At the UAE Emirates bus, team manager Mauro Gianetti tries to stay positive. His leader broke his wrist in the spring, disrupting the preparation for the Tour and making it a bit of a guess as to his top form. “But Tadej can get even better and if we have the legs for it, we will go on the attack,” says Gianetti.

At the Jumbo-Visma bus, sports director Van Dongen says that this success was not planned, but that the course of the race led to it. “It went perfectly for us, especially because Sepp Kuss was able to get into his wheel at Pogacar after Jonas drove away. That is mentally killing.” In his eyes, Thursday’s stage, when the Aspin, the Tourmalet and the Cambasque have to be climbed and the finish is uphill, offers another chance. “If we can take the time, we certainly will.”

For now, the first hole has been made for the Dutch team. As Vingegaard says: “Today was a super day.”