Jonas Vingegaard finished ahead of his main rival Tadej Pogacar for the first time on La Plagne in one of the mountain stages, but he missed out on the stage win because Thymen Arensman was still ahead. Afterwards, Vingegaard accepted his podium finishes.
Team director Grischa Niermann already responded to our camera crew after the stage. The German said that the plan was to let Tadej Pogacar do the hard work at the front and try to beat the Slovenian rider on La Plagne.
"I was aiming more for the stage win, but unfortunately Thymen launched a strong attack and he deserved to win. He was very strong," Vingegaard now acknowledges to TNT, admitting he was outmatched by the INEOS Grenadiers climber.
In the final mountain stage of the Tour, Vingegaard no longer had the illusion that he could close the four-minute gap to Tadej Pogacar. "There was no chance to take time back anymore, so I tried to play the game to win the stage. But that just didn’t work out."
How does the Dane from Visma | Lease a Bike now look back on the battle of the past few weeks? "Tadej was extremely strong. He was the strongest rider and deserved to win. I have to accept that, and now I do," concludes the rider who holds the closest podium place in the final general classification.
