"All hope is not lost... This is the Tour de France. Miracles can happen" - Jonas Vingegaard told Pogacar might pay for Hautacam efforts in coming days

After the epic display of Tadej Pogacar on the stage 12 summit finish at Hautacam, it's fair to say that most people feel the fight for the Maillot Jaune at the 2025 Tour de France is over. How Jonas Vingegaard and Team Visma | Lease a Bike feel remains to be seen, but the Dane has been urged to remember that miracles can happen by one former Tour winner.

"Jonas must be disappointed — I can’t imagine he isn’t. Surely he had hoped for much more," begins the post-stage 12 assessment of Bjarne Riis for BT.dk. "It was tough to watch. It reminded me a little of what we saw at the Dauphiné. I have to say, it was a brutal attack and a fierce acceleration from Jhonatan Narváez at the bottom of Hautacam. Vingegaard fought bravely on the climb, but that moment knocked the wind out of his sails, and from there, there wasn’t much he could do."

"Then Pogacar turned on the gas, and Jonas just couldn’t follow. Pogacar’s acceleration is outrageous. He’s the real deal," Riis continues. "I suspect Vingegaard made a conscious decision not to follow, to avoid going too far into the red at that point. He chose to ride the climb at his own pace. But he did look to fade. Florian Lipowitz was even close to catching him — and normally, there wouldn’t be that small a gap between those two. Not on a stage like Thursday."

Riis also admits that he had expected more from his compatriot on the first big mountain top finish of the race. "We have to remember that many factors come into play. Jonas was the one who tried to hang on, and he got punished for it — both physically and mentally. That costs you dearly on a climb like Hautacam. I think it’s a combination of Pogacar being brilliant and Jonas not quite being at the level he needs to be," he explains. "To be honest, I’m a little disappointed in Vingegaard’s performance. Disappointed that he couldn’t stick with Pogacar."

"Don’t get me wrong — he’s still riding strongly. That’s not the issue. But he’s just not where he was two years ago. Pogacar, on the other hand, has taken a big step forward — we’ve seen that over the past few years, not just at the Tour de France, but across the board," Riis adds. "That said, all hope is not lost. From here, it’s about getting back on the horse and pushing on, Jonas."

And it's here that Riis turns from analyst to cheerleader, urging his compatriot not to give up faith. "If you ask me, this isn’t the end of the road. Let’s see what happens over the next couple of days — they’re going to be tough, too," says the 1996 Maillot Jaune. "Jonas’s big strength is his incredible ability to recover. He probably went slightly over his limit on Hautacam, but Pogacar dug deep as well — you could see that. And he’ll probably do the same on Friday and Saturday. Who knows, maybe at some point the effort will catch up with him."

"All of this is to say: there’s no reason to give up. It’s gloves back on, and off we go again. Visma might not believe too strongly right now, but they don’t really have a choice. They’ve set their target, they’ve made a plan — now they either optimise it or tweak it. But they’re still at the Tour, and they’re still in second place," he evaluates. "There’s plenty still to fight for. This is the Tour de France. Miracles can happen."

"Jonas is going through a rough spell right now, and of course, there’ll be speculation as to why he isn’t performing better. Perhaps even debate about why he hasn’t got more racing kilometres in his legs," Riis concludes. "That’s something he’ll have to go home and reflect on. But right now, the only way is forward. I want to see them take some risks. Jonas is still the team’s best shot at a result — he’s the rider they’ve built everything around."

"He needs to survive the next couple of days, hope he recovers well, and find those good legs again. Then he has to attack — take some risks, be bold, be a bit devil-may-care. I think that would suit him well. It doesn’t mean he won’t still be dropped. But at least then he’ll have given it a real go."