Tourreporter
On the 14th stage of the Tour de France, Jonas Vinegaard increases his lead over Tadej Pogacar by one second. His rival is blocked by two motorcycles.
A mocking smile graces Jonas Vinegaard’s mouth whenever he is asked a question aimed at revealing something. And that’s quite a lot every night. Because Vingegaard wears the yellow jersey, which is why he is obliged to answer journalists’ questions. So then this smile appears. And then usually an answer follows that doesn’t help the questioner either.
Pogacar’s attack is slowed down
In Morzine, the destination of the 14th stage of the Tour de France, the Dane was supposed to comment on a scene that quite a few consider to be decisive for the outcome of this part of the day. Vingegaard and his great rival Tadej Pogacar were approaching the top of Joux Plane side by side, as expected, when Pogacar was about to launch an attack about 500 meters from the top. In doing so, however, he was blocked by two escort motorcycles that were driving far too close in front of the duo. Yes, the motorcycles were probably a little too close, Vingegaard later confirmed: “But you can’t say what would have changed.”
Of course, they saw it a little differently in Pogacar’s camp. “Tadej wanted to launch a decisive attack and was then blocked,” lamented Matxin Joxean Fernandez, the UAE team’s sporting director. And Pogacar himself was anything but impressed. “I put everything in, then the bikes didn’t move. I wasted a cartridge there,” said the Slovenian. They didn’t want to spend any longer with the UAE team. That is a matter for the organizers and the UCI.
The commissioners of the world cycling association excluded the two motorcyclists and their passengers from the 15th stage on Sunday. In addition, everyone has to pay a fine of 500 Swiss francs (511 euros). That doesn’t help Pogacar anymore either.
Calculating bonus seconds
The Slovenian has been fighting for every second in the fight for the yellow jersey since the Tour started two weeks ago. Unlike Vingegaard, he’s obviously not sure if it’s not the bonus seconds that ultimately decide who wins the tour. Without the bikes he might have rolled first over the Joux Plane if he had secured the eight bonus seconds instead of the five for second place there.
As it was, he let Vingegaard take him by surprise and lost the three bonus seconds, of which he regained two seconds when he finished second. So all in all, this time he lost a second to Vingegaard, with whom he finished at the same time behind stage winner Carlos Rodriguez. The gap between the two in the overall standings is now ten seconds.
Current status in the overall standings Arrow right
It will probably continue with this second calculation in the coming days. Because on the road, Pogacar and Vingegaard have been equals so far. And no matter what tactics the other side uses, the other side will find an answer. After Pogacar’s UAE team invested a lot and achieved little on Friday’s stage 13, this time it was Vingegaard’s team that had to face the question of effort and return.
Jumbo-Visma turns the others into passengers
The Jumbo Visma team had been in front of the field all day and set the pace, which not only dashed all hopes of a breakaway victory, but also left the other classification drivers helplessly struggling to catch up. “We were just passengers today,” said Australian Jai Hindley, describing the wild hunt over five categorized climbs. The captain of the German World Tour team, who fell in a mass crash at the beginning of the stage, lost his third place overall and is now fourth in the standings, one second behind stage winner Rodriguez.
The fight for one place behind the unattainable duo at the top seems to be a similarly gripping duel as the fight for yellow. At Jumbo-Visma, however, they had to admit that the work of Vingegaard’s team only gained a second over Pogacar, although the Dane of course praised the great work of his team enthusiastically.
“Exciting fight to the end”
“Of course, one second is not much, we would have preferred to have gained ten minutes,” said Niermann, who should not have liked the fact that it was his captain who ultimately had no helper at his side, while Pogacar was still on the British Adam Yates was able to gain access before launching his first attack 3.7 kilometers from the top of Joux Plane. 30 meters, almost five seconds, was Pogacar’s lead for a while. But the Dane fought his way back – then came the bikes.
Both teams have now used different tactics in the course of the race, without one or the other side having been able to gain a decisive advantage from it so far. “We still have our plan,” Vingegaard said in Morzine. “And I hope that I’ll come to Paris in yellow at the end.” Until then – the Dane and his rival agree that they will continue to exchange blows. “It’s going to be an exciting fight to the end,” predicted Vingegaard.