Jonas Vingegaard has up to now minimised the influence of his horrible Itzulia Basque Nation crash through the 2024 Tour de France, exhibiting spectacular type after simply six weeks of coaching and limiting his losses to UAE Crew Emirates’ Tadej Pogačar to simply 50 seconds.
On Thursday, Vingegaard and his Visma-Lease a Bike workforce navigated the flat stage to Dijon with obvious ease, ensuring they have been united and on the fitting facet of the cut up that shaped in a short second of crosswinds. Christophe Laporte and Matteo Jorgenson then escorted him to the end line, as Wout van Aert was given a short second of freedom to contest the stage 6 dash.
It was a day of relative ease for Vingegaard. Nevertheless, Friday’s 25.3km particular person time trial via the Cote d’Or Bourgogne crimson wine area of central France shall be a real race of fact.
There shall be no peloton for the Dane to cover in, no teammates to guard him. It will likely be Vingegaard towards the clock and towards race chief Pogačar, world time trial champion Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep), Primož Roglič (Pink Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and all the opposite GC contenders.
All of Vingegaard’s rivals have accomplished pre-race reconnaissance rides of the time trial course, however his crash with the ensuing many weeks in hospital and rehabilitation left him no time to journey to the Cote d’Or to see the route.
Vingegaard confronted a doable night reconnaissance automobile journey on Thursday, or may wait till Friday morning for a trip when the course is closed.
“I have not seen the time trial course but, solely on video. I ought to have been there to do a recon of it however then I crashed and could not do it,” Vingegaard admitted to Biking Weekly after stage 6.
“I feel it is barely hilly, not so technical, however it will likely be fairly a quick time trial I feel.”
Vingegaard begins his trip at 16:56 native time, 4 minutes behind Roglič. Behind the Dane, Evenepoel takes the course after which Pogačar, the ultimate rider on the course. It’s unclear how a lot Vingegaard has been in a position to prepare on his time trial bike after his punctured lung and fractured ribs at Itzulia Basque Nation in early April.
In 2023, Vingegaard arrange his general victory with a dominant efficiency within the hilly 22.4km Passy to Combloux time trial within the Alps. He gained 1:38 on Pogačar and three minutes on everybody else, earlier than Pogačar famously cracked on the next day’s stage to Courchevel.
This 12 months, the time trial tables have turned. Pogačar seems to have improved his time trialling and his gear, successful the primary time trial within the Giro d’Italia and solely narrowly being defeated by Filippo Ganna within the second.
The final classification and Vingegaard’s general ambitions of a 3rd Tour victory may look very completely different on Friday.
“I feel usually Tadej is all the time doing fairly good time trials. So for certain he shall be good, as will Remco,” Vingegaard predicted.
“I suppose Remco would be the huge favorite. I am going to simply do my finest after which we should see what the consequence shall be.”
Get limitless entry to all of our protection of the Tour de France – together with breaking information and evaluation reported by our journalists on the bottom from each stage of the race because it occurs and extra. Discover out extra.
