Jonas Vingegaard hit a double in the Tour de France on Wednesday. In the mountain stage from Albertville to Col du Granon, the Dane from Jumbo-Visma broke away from classification leader Tadej Pogacar on the final climb and took both the yellow leader’s jersey and the stage victory. In the general classification, Vingegaard now has a lead of 2.16 minutes on number two Romain Bardet and 2.22 minutes on Pogacar.
Also read this profile about Jonas Vingegaard from 2021: the ‘shadow of Roglic’ goes for the Tour podium in Paris
Already on the first tough climb of the day, the Col du Télégraphe, Jumbo-Visma opened the attack on Pogacar. Primoz Roglic and Tiesj Benoot tried to break away from the pack, but were taken back. On the Col du Galibier, with 2,629 meters the highest climb in this edition of the Tour de France, Vingegaard’s team continued the offensive. Where Pogacar’s servants had to unload, Jumbo-Visma was at one point still with four men: Vingegaard, Roglic, Steven Kruijswijk and Sepp Kuss. Just below the top, Pogacar attacked himself, but after riding ahead with Vingegaard, more riders rejoined the numbers one and two of the general classification.
After a long descent towards the foot of the Col du Granon, it was still quiet in the first kilometers on the final climb. With 4.5 kilometers from the finish, Vingegaard placed an attack to which Pogacar had no answer. He then also passed Nairo Quintana and Warren Barguil, who were still ahead at the time. At the finish, Vingegaard had saved Pogacar by almost three minutes, putting his main competitor for the yellow jersey now at almost two and a half minutes in the general classification. In between is the Frenchman Romain Bardet.
Van der Poel got rid of
Mathieu van der Poel did not cross the line in Wednesday’s stage. The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider was still in the early break, but had to release early and then also fell through the pack. At about seventy kilometers from the finish, he decided to get into the team leader’s car. Van der Poel had a moderate Tour, in which he, among other things, was unable to fulfill his favorite role in the cobblestone stage to Arenberg. He already had doubts about giving up last week, although he said he still wanted to make it to Paris last weekend in front of the NOS camera.