"If Pogacar continues this line and collects every time, then it will be difficult for us" - Jumbo-Visma acknowledge difficulty but satisfied with first week

Jumbo-Visma ends the first week of the Tour de France on a positive note, the team's leaders state, however, they acknowledge that they face a big challenge over the coming weeks as Tadej Pogacar shows great form in the recent mountain stages.

“We knew in advance that this would be a reasonably good climb for Pogačar, but Jonas is also good at it," Merijn Zeeman said following stage 9. "Actually, you never say in advance that it has been factored in, but the Grand Colombier is also coming. Those are stages that suit Pogačar very well. Jonas comes to the surface again in the more exhausting stages. We are going to see a very big fight and we have a lot of confidence in that.”

Jumbo-Visma come in with the confidence that in the multiple mountain stages, as will be the case in the Alps on several occasions, the terrain will better suit Vingegaard. However in Cauterets it was Pogacar making the difference in the end, but contrary to the line of thought, Vingegaard hit the GC contenders hard on stage 5 at the Col de Marie Blanque where the Slovenian couldn't keep up.

“Anyway, if Pogacar continues this line and collects every time, then it will be difficult for us. This was an atypical mountain stage. We still have to enter the Alps, with several mountain stages in a row. That will also give different proportions and that will be a different race.”

With the Basque Country, Pyrenees and (GC-wise) Massif Central behind, it leaves the Alps and the Vosges for the Dane. He enters stage 10 with 17 seconds of advantage, whilst the rest of the competition are now in a different battle for the third place. “If you had said before the Tour that we were leading the Puy de Dôme by 17 seconds, we would have been, and we are proud and satisfied with that," Arthur van Dongen, fellow DS, added. 

“We had to admit some seconds. That's never fun, but that doesn't mean the Tour is over. We look forward with confidence. We all know the danger of Pogacar. It should be clear that he will once again live up to his favourite role even more. It was a fair fight, in which Pogačar lives up to his favourite role and Jonas has to admit something," he concluded.