"He has to sense whether he can still do it and wants to go for it again" - Visma DS on whether or not Jonas Vingegaard could sacrifice podium attempting Tour de France win

With just four stages to go at the 2024 Tour de France, Jonas Vingegaard now trails Tadej Pogacar in the general classification by 3:11. With the Dane's chances of a third successive Maillot Jaune looking slim, it's becoming increasingly likely that in order to overturn the deficit, Vingegaard might have to be willing to potentially sacrifice his podium position.

"The conclusion is that we lose twelve seconds on Remco Evenepoel, and two on Tadej Pogacar," reflects Team Visma | Lease a Bike sports director Merijn Zeeman in a post-stage 17 conversation with NOS. "The picture of the race is that Jonas had a hard time following Remco as well as Pogacar for the first time. It was a different relationship than we have seen before. Friday is the first big mountain stage of this week and we have to see how they relate then."

Whilst, as teammate Tiesj Bennot was quick to note in his post-stage interview, the parcours didn't particularly suit Vingegaard on stage 17, there was still a worryingly un-Vingegaard-like reaction when Pogacar attacked initially and Evenepoel overtook the Dane in chasing down the Maillot Jaune. "Jonas didn't say he felt vulnerable, but it was so exhausting. That automatically makes for a tough final. Jonas clearly had it in his legs," Zeeman admits. 

But, with stages that, on paper at least, are more well suited to a rider of Vingegaard's capabilities coming up over the next few days, is there a genuine possibility of a 'Hail Mary' all or nothing attack a la Chris Froome from the 2018 Giro d'Italia?

"Look, the loss is still minimal and on Friday we'll enter the real high mountains. Above two thousand meters, a completely different course. Evenepoel and Pogacar were very strong, but let's hope that the balance will be different on Friday," Zeeman concludes. "It really depends on Jonas. You can think of anything, but he has to sense whether he can still do it and wants to go for it again. But tomorrow also awaits another tough day and then we will take stock. This weekend is so tough that everyone will end up in place in the end."