Vingegaard shrugs off latest Tour de France time loss

The Dane conceded more time to Tadej Pogačar on Stage 10 but said the shorter climbs don't suit him and believes the toughest Alpine stages still offer opportunities The post Vingegaard shrugs off latest Tour de France time loss appeared first on Canadian Cycling Magazine .

Jonas Vingegaard lost more ground to Tour de France leader Tadej Pogačar on Stage 10 , but the two-time champion wasn’t discouraged after another difficult day in the Massif Central. In fact, he sounds surprisingly positive going into the next week-and-a-half of racing. On Tuesday, after spending much of the finale trying to chase Pogačar, Vingegaard crossed the line with the main group of favourites but was outsprinted by several rivals.

He finished 12 seconds behind Remco Evenepoel, not counting bonus seconds, and ultimately gave up 44 seconds to Pogačar on the day. It was another incredibly dominant performance by the world champion. It was just a few days ago that he absolutely anihilated the field on the first mountain test on the Tourmalet.

Stuck at his own pace Rather than joining the sprint for the line, Vingegaard said he stuck to his own rhythm over the closing kilometres. “I just wanted to ride at my own pace to the top and then all the way to the finish. They started sprinting, but I wanted to keep the same pace to the line,” Vingegaard said, according to Feltet .

The result leaves the Visma–Lease a Bike leader more than three and a half minutes behind Pogačar in the overall standings. Which is...a lot. But the Dane says he’s not too concerned.

(I mean, there are plenty of tough stages up ahead, but still, the Slovenian has definitely had some stunning rides.) Looking ahead Despite the growing deficit, Vingegaard said he wasn’t overly disappointed with his performance. He told Feltet that the punchier climbs on Stage 10 are not where he performs at his best.

“It actually wasn’t such a bad day. Shorter climbs like these don’t suit me very well, so I had to fight today. To come away with only a small time loss, I can be satisfied,” he told Feltet .

Asked how he moves forward from another setback, Vingegaard kept his answer pretty simple. Flattish stages await “I’ll go to bed tonight, and tomorrow is a new day,” he said, according to Feltet . So with the Tour now heading toward longer and more demanding mountain stages, will Vingegaard’s plan allow him to claw back time on Pogi?

Before those mountains, there’s a few flat stages. There’s also a decent TT coming up, just under 30 km, with a small rise before flattening out. Definitely has a Remco Evenepoel kinda feel to it, but it will still be clutch for both Pogi and Vingegaard to have a very good ride.

The post Vingegaard shrugs off latest Tour de France time loss appeared first on Canadian Cycling Magazine .