Visma-Lease a Bike’s Tour de France special-edition jerseys were named Renaissance to honour the race’s Italian Grand Départ, but there was more than a hint of rebirth for Jonas Vingegaard on stage 20, too, as the Dane bounced back from a hard stage 19 to fight Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) all the way to the line.
Vingegaard was dropped by the race leader within sight of the top of the Col de la Couillole, the same ascent where he was defeated by Pogačar in the 2023 edition of Paris-Nice.
But the Dane showed courageous racing as Soudal-QuickStep attempted to put him under pressure, just missing out on the stage win. He managed to drop podium rival Remco Evenepoel and all but ensure that he would finish second overall in the Tour de France on Sunday.
“Today he showed he’s not easy to crack and he’s a real fighter,” Pogačar admiringly said afterwards.
Vingegaard said later he had been dreaming of outduelling the Slovenian, as he had done in Le Lioran 10 days ago, on the Tour´s last summit finish. But Vingegaard´s performance, not the result, was ultimately what mattered the most.
"I felt better than yesterday," Vingegaard told reporters afterwards. "Friday was one of my worst days on the bike. I was completely empty in the finale, but today it was very different.
"When Evenepoel attacked me the first time, I didn’t have any problems responding and so when he tried a second time, I thought I would go for it myself.
“But my key objective was gaining time on Remco, more than the stage win.”
150 metres from the line, Vingegaard did try to pull himself out of the saddle to go for the line, but Pogačar instantly came past him, gaining another seven seconds on the Dane by the finish line.
On the plus side for the defending Tour de France champion, Vingegaard´s gain of 46 seconds on La Couillole makes it almost impossible for even a time trial specialist like Evenepoel to overhaul him in Sunday’s race against the clock. The difference between the two now stands at two minutes and fifty seconds.
Bizarrely enough, the opportunity of a stage win for both Pogačar and Vingegaard came down to Soudal-QuickStep working to try and dislodge the Dane from second, which spelled curtains for the breakaway. The last two survivors from the 10-man move of the day, Enric Mas (Movistar) and then Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), were caught on the upper slopes of the Couillole, giving Vingegaard and Pogačar an unexpected opportunity for victory.
“I was in some kind of way hoping he would give it to me, but I knew already I’d been riding so hard, if he would sprint I would have no chance,” Vingegaard commented.
“I was already on my limit, but you can always hope and that´s cycling, that’s how it is. I don’t blame him at all, I would probably have done the same.”
In terms of the bigger picture, Vingegaard was still cautious about his chances of defending his overall advantage against Evenepoel, pointing out that the stage 7 winner “is the best time triallist, so you never know if it’s enough".
"Three minutes seems like a lot to me, but last year in the Tour I took 1:40 in the time trial [on second-placed Pogačar - Ed.] myself, so you can easily lose time.
“I'm just glad I managed to gain so many seconds today and with how I rode and how I recovered. To bounce back like this is really nice for me."
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