"He takes more than a minute and a half on Wout van Aert" - Gianetti happy with Pogacar's performance despite Vingegaard dominance

The Maillot Jaune now seems incredibly far away for Tadej Pogacar at the 2023 Tour de France. After Jonas Vingegaard's dominant victory in the stage 16 individual time-trial, the Slovenian is now 1:48 down on his great rival.

Had it not been for the massive time loss to Vingegaard however, Pogacar's ride would have been incredibly impressive, as UAE Team Emirates boss Mauro Gianetti reassures. "Tadej really rode a good time trial. He takes more than a minute and a half in third, on Wout van Aert, which is very good, but Jonas was impressive," he declares. “He has done something extraordinary. It's not a failure of Tadej, he wasn't bad, neither was Adam Yates, but Vingegaard was very strong."

As mentioned, Pogacar is now nearly two minutes behind Vingegaard, a huge difference from the 10 seconds that separated them at the start of the day. "The difference was very quickly 15 seconds, we immediately knew it was going to be very difficult," continues Gianetti. "We know about the wattages that everyone can push, we didn't expect Vingegaard to start so quickly."

"We have to believe in it, that's for sure, but we also have to be realistic and look at reality. You have to have the legs first before you can try anything. We are second and third: this remains a very good Tour for us," he concludes optimistically. "Vingegaard was superior. And in recent weeks we have seen that he is very regular, very focused, that is clear. It's not over, but it's very complicated now. If we see an opportunity, we'll grab it, but we didn't expect the gap to be this big."