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How can Jonas Vingegaard threaten Tadej Pogacar this Tour? “For Jonas it’s counting down to the long climbs”

Vingegaard then. Jumbo-Visma draws hope from the second place of the little Dane. He attacked Pogacar, got a hole, but was still whistled back by the unapproachable Slovenian. That he can do that on a slope that they consider tailor-made for Jumbo-Visma Handsome contemplating, ensures combativeness in the Dutch camp. They are counting on the Dane to be able to make his mark on the longer climbs.

Stijn Joris

Could Pogacar have been thinking about Jonas Vingegaard in his bed last night? Will he really get a challenger? In any case, he does not hide the respect that the two-time Tour winner has for the Dane. “He is probably the best climber in the world,” said Pogacar after his second stage win in a row. “Jonas is very compact and has a strong team around him. It’s good that I’m a little ahead of him.”

At Jumbo-Visma they were checked for the second time in as many days and every time it was Handsome the one who was too quick for them. They don’t get discouraged. “Does this give us hope? One hundred percent,” said general manager Richard Plugge. “Of course there is disappointment because Jonas came very close but did not win, but we are still very much in the game. The finish is not until Paris. We still have to cross a lot of mountains along the way. We stick to the plan.”

Vingegaard was finally overtaken by Pogacar on La Planche des belles Filles.

Vingegaard was finally overtaken by Pogacar on La Planche des belles Filles. — ©  REUTERS

That plan initially consisted of bombarding Pogacar with Vingegaard and Roglic. It now seems that Vingegaard in particular should become the challenger of the Slovenian. “Primoz is more than two minutes behind (2’45”, red.)”, said sports director Grischa Niermann. “Jonas is a bigger contender, but we are certainly not writing Primoz off just yet. That he can do this already after his fall shows how strong he is. If you had told me the morning before the ride we were going to be two and three, I would have signed up.”

The role that Roglic can play is – with or without Ineos – to harass Pogacar and force him on the defensive with Vingegaard in his wheel. The Dane can then try to strike when the Slovenian is all the way to his limit. “We will see if Roglic can attack early in the final. In principle he is more someone with a final shot, but maybe he should try it a little earlier,” says Niermann.

Batman and Robin

In an organic way, the duo leadership at Jumbo-Visma shifted more to one absolute leader and a sidekick. Batman and Robin. The belief that Vingegaard can still turn this around rests on the fact that within Jumbo-Visma they are convinced that the Danish mountain goat will come into its own in heavier stages with longer climbs and so there will be a few more in the Alps and the Pyrenees. Vingegaard himself mentioned this after his narrow defeat. “I came very close, but in the last ten meters Tadej passed me and I had no answer. Hopefully I’m better on the long climbs. I hope so.”

One of the reasons why not only Vingegaard is convinced, but with him the entire Jumbo-Visma collective, is that the Dane was already able to attack Pogacar last year in the stage that crossed the Ventoux twice. there faltered Handsome very occasionally. And let there just be a lot of long climbs bundled in this Tour. In stages eleven and twelve, there are five out-of-class cols over ten kilometers long, with the 29 kilometer climb of the Croix de la Fer as one of the main focuses. Also in the Pyrenees there is another test with the sixteen kilometer long Aubisque that Vingegaard, according to his team, should be better than Pogacar.

Vingegaard came in second on Friday.

Vingegaard came in second on Friday. — ©  AFP

“La Planche des Belles Filles is an effort of twenty minutes”, concludes Niermann. “It is extremely suitable for Pogacar. There was a lot of hard riding in this stage, but except for the final climb there was not much profile in it. Jonas prefers longer, tougher rides. In the Alps and the Pyrenees we come across something different than La Planche des Belles Filles. Let’s hope we can make it exciting, otherwise it will just be a boring Tour.”

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