Jonas Vingegaard was defiant after shedding but extra time to Tadej Pogačar and Remco Evenepoel in stage seven’s particular person time trial on the Tour de France.
The Dane fell additional behind the present race chief, Pogačar, within the combat for the yellow jersey after ending the race in opposition to the clock 37 seconds slower than Evenepoel, the stage winner in Gevrey-Chambertin.
Vingegaard now sits extra one minute and 15 seconds down on Pogačar after starting the day 50 seconds behind the Slovenian.
Regardless of the time loss, Vingegaard saved an optimistic perspective after the stage.
“To be sincere I believe it was a great time trial for me,” the defending champion stated. “I am proud of my efficiency, and to solely lose 37 seconds to Remco on a time trial that fits him fairly properly is a fairly good end result for me.
“I would not say it is a large hit, fairly the other really. I anticipated to lose extra time. It is a time trial that is far more beneficial for him so it is good to solely lose 25 seconds to him as we speak.
“Final 12 months I took seven and a half minutes in two phases, the ability is there so we simply should consider in our plan.”
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Vingegaard repeated the identical feedback that he made earlier than the race started in Italy, reiterating that he was blissful simply to have the ability to begin the race in any respect after recovering from the punctured lung, fractured ribs and collarbone that he sustained in his horrible spring crash.
“In fact I’ve ambitions and I wish to do properly right here, however anyway, what occurs occurs and I can not change it,” he stated relating to his time loss.
“I believe San Luca was the day I fearful most about [before the race]. There I didn’t lose time and as we speak I solely misplaced 25 seconds on a course that fits Remco and Tadej far more than me. So I believe to solely lose 25 seconds is an efficient day for me as we speak.”
Visma-Lease a Bike DS Grischa Niermann echoed the identical line as Vingegaard by the crew bus after the stage, saying the plan remained to get the Dane on the rostrum on the finish of the race.
“We knew that it wasn’t a parcours for him,” Niermann informed Biking Weekly, set to the backdrop of a neighborhood winery. “He did super-well and I believe we have now to be proud of that. I believe he did an excellent TT as we speak.”
“It is a terrific achievement that Jonas is in the beginning of the Tour de France,” he added. “He is trying good, he’s feeling good, he’s assured and I do not assume we may have hoped for extra after seven days of racing.
“In fact the dream remains to be to win the Tour de France. Tadej Pogačar is trying extraordinarily good, extraordinarily robust and he has a powerful crew round him.
“It is going to be a tough process however as soon as once more all people ought to be very, very blissful that Jonas is right here in France within the form he’s proper now.”
