"I do not think I lost a mental battle" - Tadej Pogacar left collecting damage after failed attack on Jonas Vingegaard

Thursday, 11 July 2024 at 10:41

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Tadej Pogacar and UAE Team Emirates had a plan to blow up the Tour de France today, but although they succeeded, they lost time to the man they tried to distance. The UAE Team paced all day long to control the day's breakaway and then put on the hurt in the early climbs of the day to set up Pogacar for an attack in Puy Mary.

And with 31 kilometers to go he set off, by himself and looking like he'd gain meaningful time. The gap to Jonas Vingegaard and Primoz Roglic was of over 30 seconds at the base of the penultimate climb: the Col de Perthus. Here the stage was turned on it's head. Jonas Vingegaard had a second wind and closed down the gap fully, with Pogacar - according to a few people - struggling with feeding. That may have been the reason for the lack of explosivity in the stage finale.

“I think we are evenly matched. But the Pyrenees are still to come, I am more prepared for that,” Pogacar said in a post-race interview. “It was a very good day. Our team did very well... I felt good on the descents, but then my bike suddenly got a thud. I lost some energy. I still felt good, but Jonas was better. I waited for him, I knew he would come back anyway.”

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Tour de France | Jonas Vingegaard outsprints Tadej Pogacar to win stage 11 after 'duel of the century'

The two were destined to arrive in Le Lioran together and battling for the stage win in a sprint. It was an uphill one however, and here Vingegaard had the best legs, and took a surprising photo-finish win. Pogacar could only watch: "I felt good on the first tough climb, so I attacked. Jonas came back strongly on the next climb, after which we went to the finish together. We can now really speak of a fair fight. Jonas is in top form. He also beat me strongly in the sprint.”

At the end of a full day on the attack, Pogacar still lost one second to Vingegaard. This will mean nothing in the big picture, but above all it's the psychological battle that is ongoing where this could affect things, as the Slovenian was expected to be able to deal with this terrain better.

“It is a good day for Vingegaard, but also for me. I do not think I lost a mental battle here," the yellow jersey states. "Okay, he won the sprint, but I think we are evenly matched. In the Pyrenees there will be different climbs and I am more prepared for that work.”