"I thought it would be a matter of seconds" - Jens Voigt hoped to see more from Jonas Vingegaard
CyclingTuesday, 14 July 2026 at 09:00
Thus far, the 2026 Tour de France has been under full control of Tadej Pogacar's UAE Team Emirates - XRG. Except for the opening team time trial, the Emirati team has shown no sign of weakness as they comfortably grabbed three stages and the yellow jersey along the way.
In the meatime, we have seen three bunch sprints and two stages go to breakaway, but the main talking point according to former professional Jens Voigt has to be Tadej Pogacar's raid on Col du Tourmalet.
The Slovenian attacked away early after a launch from Isaac del Toro, but Vingegaard stayed within sight for many kilometers before he finally let Pogacar go under the top. From there, Pogacar's advantage exploded to over two and half minutes, setting the tone of general classification for the first rest day.
"The highlight of these first nine days is certainly this spectacular Pyrenean stage over the Tourmalet," said Voigt on Eurosport. "The early attack, the favorites, everyone chasing each other, everyone having to show their cards. That was definitely one of the highlights, one of the most interesting moments of the Tour so far."
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It should've been within seconds
Voigt, however, is less enthusiastic about the current balance of power at the top. In particular Jonas Vingegaard has not quite been at the level he had hoped for after his convincing Giro d'Italia victory. And neither has his team been of a great support with key man Matteo Jorgenson not quite up there in the first week.
"I had hoped and fully expected that Jonas would be on par with Tadej after this great, victorious and strong Giro d'Italia," explained Voigt.
"I didn't expect it to be two and a half minutes already. I thought it would be a matter of seconds, or that they would attack together and arrive together. I had hoped it would have been closer together."
Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar at the 2026 Tour de France
Attention shifts away from Pogacar
And so, the battle for second and especially third place seems to offer more excitement with close gaps and many hungry contenders.
At the moment, it is Pogacar's teammate Isaac del Toro who sits third overall but Remco Evenepoel, Juan Ayuso, Paul Seixas, Florian Lipowitz and even Lenny Martinez are within a minute of the young Mexican.
In addition, Vingegaard cannot grow too comfortable in his second position as his advantage over Del Toro is only 45 seconds ahead of second week. Already the tenth stage on Tuesday could see GC action with nearly 4.000 meters of climbing on the way to Le Lioran.
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- So @mij, you're proud of your orange orangutan president, who's killing school girls in Iran (more than 150 died), his gestapo Ice agents are deporting many innocent people and breaking up families, his gestapo Ice agents, dressed up as terrorists are killing american citizens. Your president, that you're so proud of, is threatening Greenland again, He wants Canada to become america's 51 state. Your president is covering up his pedophile friends... why? Because he's a pedophile himself. THE WHOLE WORLD HATES TRUMP, but that's not enough for you, is it? You're still proud of your president? Shame on you!!!mus-musculuspeedypogigonzales14-07-2026
- You Westerners are doing everything possible to stop Pogi-Baby Hulk from Slovenia (some southern parts of Slovenia are considered the Balkans) from winning the 5th Tour. The western media is talking about Pogi being doped to the gills, putting UAE in the shittiest hotels without AC etc. What will be next... paying people good money, on side of the road, to throw Pogi off his bike? Just asking, maybe someone already knows.mus-musculuspeedypogigonzales14-07-2026
- Dear UAE Please stop being better than everyone else....... doubt this would be an issue if it were a Dutch, Belgian, French or Italian team.. old cycling just can't stand the newslappers6614-07-2026
- Yeah, but I've heard cycling fans say, if Pogi was in team Visma, he would already be a 6X Tour winner, this year he would be "fighting" for his 7th Tour. What do you think about that?mus-musculuspeedypogigonzales14-07-2026
- The 'problem' (for lack of a better word) is the grand tours are all in Europe, so if you shift the TDF, then the Giro or Vuelta (depending on which way they shift the calendar) will then have to be held in the heat. There are also many other races, so the calendar is quite packed and there's not much room to shift. I think it's just something they have to put up with unfortunately. Us cyclists are tough and ride in most weather conditions and the pros are even tougher, so I think this is just more of a "discussion point of the day" and we'll all move on tomorrow to discuss something else haha (24hr news cycle etc).Pogboom14-07-2026
- and of course, when Europe need a bailout, the USD going into the IMF are not nearly as loathed as you make them out to be in your comments. the economic gap between the US and Europe has expanded dramatically. while again you might loathe money, you need our dollars.mij14-07-2026
- wait, you say you have never lived in the west, but were born in Cleveland? been there for 26 years now? it is interesting, all of the europeans that have come to the west during the World Cup. they love it. they say it is nothing like they could have imagined it to be. far better than they expected, and frankly far better than their European homes of small houses, no local amenities, and cramped cities. I am from the USA and proud of it. I am proud of my president as he is the leader of my country, even though I don't always agree with him. I don't bash your little Croatia with a per capita GDP of $24k USD per year. Homes less than half the size of the average US home. don't bash my country if you haven't been here in 26 years. as many people just learned when visiting America, the USA is far better than anyone expected, the people are friendlier, and it is a great place to live. the best IMO. and I have been to 38 countries around the world, for months on end some trips. I am not xenophobic, but I also don't bash someone else's homeland, someone else's leader. and the devices responsible for sending you this content, staying in touch with people, the vehicles used to move you around, advances in medicine and more - all from the USA. trying to figure out what Croatia adds. If it is only a beautiful coastline, drive the PCH from LA to San Francisco. we have natural beauty in spades in the USAmij14-07-2026
- Can i get an amen up here. We certainly do have a Pogi 1.0 and a Pogi 2.0.
Andrew14-07-2026 - You watch too many moviesAndrew14-07-2026
- Armstrong was using methods that many other riders at the time, and he dominated - perhaps his doping enhanced his already superior physical capabilities. Same could be said of Pog, ie he doesn’t need something unique. Then again, with the UAE resources, he could have something quite unique indeedCrashjames14-07-2026
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