“Yesterday was a terrible day for us.” Jonas Vingegaard admits to a dense crowd of journalists waving microphones in his sweaty, exhausted face. The blazing afternoon sun is mercilessly beating down on the slumped shoulders of the Visma-Lease a Bike rider as he stands atop the Peyragudes climb, putting on an admirably brave face. In truth, this Tour de France is not going the way the Dane ever wanted. He did not come here to be four minutes and seven seconds behind Tadej Pogačar on stage 13. But what is there to do?
The only option, Visma-Lease a Bike believe, is to try and hold on to whatever scraps of hope they have left. After their superstar GC rider’s spectacular blow-up on the Hautacam on Thursday, they are adamant that they will not wave the white flag. The fight, they say, is still on.
“I can be happy with my performance today – it was probably my best ever when yesterday was one of my worse,” Vingegaard says of his second-place finish in the time trial, 36 seconds behind stage winner Pogačar. “It’s nice to come back like this. Until the final climb yesterday, I actually felt quite good, but then all of a sudden the lights just went out. To be able to come back like this today is very nice for us, and we're super excited.”
Perhaps the sensible thing is to write Vingegaard off. It is true that four minutes in the Tour de France to Pogačar seems like an unthinkable gap for the 28-year-old to even attempt to bridge. But we must not forget the things that this bike rider has done before. He is twice a yellow jersey winner, he is one of the most talented climbers of this generation. Anyway, Vingegaard says that it doesn’t really matter what anyone else thinks. The most important thing is holding on to the trust he has in himself.
“I know that the level I showed yesterday was not my normal level. It's not like I lose the belief in myself. I still believe in myself and in the level that I have,” he states. “I am just back to normal now, and I have to keep on trying, believing we can do something in this race. The whole team is incredibly strong. We just have to show it in the next coming days.”
One thing that will be crucial to Vingegaard turning this Tour de France around is his Visma-Lease a Bike teammates. In the past, the Dutch squad has managed to use their collective strength to get the better of Pogačar. It’s true that the likelihood is slim, but if key domestiques like Matteo Jorgenson and Sepp Kuss can perform at their best, team tactics could be Visma's best option for beating Pogačar in the mountains to come. Alongside his team leader, Jorgenson also said after the time trial that he already felt recovered from yesterday’s off-day, where the American rider was dropped early in the stage.
Vingegaard described stage 12's finish to Hautacam as one of his worst ever performances (Photo: Zac Williams/SWpix.com)
“I wanted to get myself back in the fight,” Jorgenson said after finishing sixth on stage 13. “After yesterday I was disappointed last night. It felt like, in some ways, I gave up and just had a really bad day. I wanted to come around today and prove to myself again that I had good legs still.
“Jonas was super strong. I'm proud of his fight. And just watched the last couple of kilometres and it was exciting television. We're doing our best in the race, and I really am proud of how we raced so far. I don't think we should be disappointed at all. There's nothing you can do if you give your best and you're fighting every day.”
Kuss was similarly optimistic about his team’s future at this Tour de France: “You have to be positive, otherwise we wouldn’t even start the Tour after the Dauphiné. You have to believe, everybody in the race believes they have their chances, so it’s all relative. We have a good time together at the dinner table, the vibe is good, and we know from experience that there are still a lot of stages and key moments coming,” he argued.
Visma-Lease a Bike are one of the highest-performing sports teams on the planet, and they, more than anyone, will be aware of the work – or miracle – it is going to take for them to gain four minutes back in the general classification of the Tour. But the reality is also that they have no other choice but to keep racing. This is not over until the line is crossed in Paris and there are still eight stages left where they must hold on to even the faintest shadow of yellow jersey dreams.
“It’s definitely a big deficit, if you look at that on paper, you could say it’s over, but it’s bike racing, anything can happen,” Kuss continued. “We saw Pogačar, he crashed on stage 11, you can be behind a split, can have a bad moment, anything can happen, we still have the hardest stages ahead of us. You just have to focus on what you can control and take advantage when the situation is good.”
Just like July’s glaring sun in the Pyrenees, the Tour de France shows no mercy. No matter who you are, as Kuss points out, this race spares no one from mishaps or misfortune. That is the cruel beauty of the game. The only way to make it bearable for Vingegaard to continue is to take whatever solace he can from the smaller deficit on stage 13’s time trial between him and Pogačar. In this era of bike racing, you take hope wherever you can get it.
