"It is due to a considerable weight difference between Vingegaard and Pogacar" - Visma DS explains Jonas Vingegaard's time loss in Galibier descent
CyclingThursday, 04 July 2024 at 10:29
Dust settled and after four stages into Tour de France, Jonas Vingegaard is looking at Tadej Pogacar's bib numbers from a distance of 50 seconds. But as we have witnessed it in the past, we should only count the eggs in our basket after the time trial in Nice as only there the overall standings will be definitive.
The Dane was only some eight seconds behind his Slovenian counterpart on top of Col du Galibier, however he lost another 30 seconds in the subsequent descent to Valloire. Visma | Lease a Bike sports director Arthur van Dongen explains why that happened in an interview with WielerFlits.
Van Dongen believes Vingegaard wasn't lacking in terms of technical skills or risk-taking. Apparently the answer is much simpler than that. "It is due to a considerable weight difference between Vingegaard and Pogacar," he says. Pogacar is listed at 66kg while Vingegaard only 60kg. Were the few extra kilograms the sole reason for Vingegaard to lose a considerable amount of time?
There's more to it, the Visma DS realizes. "Pogacar is also just a bit more explosive. After a sharp hairpin bend, he can immediately, boom, accelerate at full speed. Mathieu van der Poel can do that too. Vingegaard loses out there. It's as simple as that."
Despite the time loss and a provisional third place in the general classification, the team continues to radiate confidence. They are not shocked by the time loss. Main sports director team leader Grischa Niermann hinted that they expected even bigger difference.
The first mountain stage confirmed what many already thought. UAE Team Emirates is by far the strongest lineup (not only) in the mountains at the moment. Not even by the riders of Visma | Lease a Bike, who were able to control the previous editions can't do much about this dominance.
On the flanks of the Galibier, the consequences of multiple setbacks throughout this season accumulated and Vingegaard was quickly isolated against the strong UAE. The biggest loss is the absence of Vuelta winner Sepp Kuss who couldn't start after he fell ill just ahead of the Grand Départ. "Sepp had always ridden with those last eight riders. We miss him of course. And he is irreplaceable," according to Van Dongen.
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- No, you just have to remember that when it comes to any Belgo-Dutch strife, (even for born in Belgium MVDP) each side will religiously back their own no matter if the other is right. It’s also ironic and not necessarily a coincidence that WVA rides for the Dutch and MVDP for Belgians, as if each tries to buy up the others’ elite to weaken the other side ;-)Mistermaumau08-07-2025
- Sprinting at a GT is a bit of a weird pastime anyway. Even on a track it’s safer and more regulated. Why force these guys to ride all that distance (thereby further endangering the GC contenders) just for that. Maybe the TdF can rethink how to present both in a safer way whilst keeping people’s attention? Organise sprinting events (e.g heats/qualification for finals like track bmx) separately for action at finish lines (and screens) all day whilst the GC riders make their way?Mistermaumau08-07-2025
- Doesn’t need to, seems MTB is as dangerous for him as those two combined ;-)Mistermaumau08-07-2025
- Teammates are paid to say what’s expected and to say nothing against their own in such situations.Mistermaumau08-07-2025
- Well, for a start, this seems to be causing more discussion than the cycling and pressure on him. Secondly, he’s handling it all very serenely so they’re obviously aligned on their position. Personally I think something has been going on behind the scenes we’ve not been told and I wouldn’t be surprised if Jonas new style and behaviour is a result, maybe he’s one more he no longer cares and is jyst going to ride how he wants to?Mistermaumau08-07-2025
- Mostly agree but once again, when you employ a family man you invite family involvement if you don’t respect family needs. It may be something cycling never got used to dealing with largely a mass of celebate young testosterone laden guys. Funnily enough, if a female riders vanishes a few years for family reasons, no-one thinks anything of it. Seems we just cannot undo that natural discrimination of the past about men doing their part at home.Mistermaumau08-07-2025
- Jonas is the 2nd best GC rider in the world who is the only one who can beat the best rider. He has enough clout to negotiate with his team or any other team. He can break his contract if needed. His wife doesn't need to fight in the media for him. His wife may harbour some resentment but that is between Jonas and his wife. All this was designed to create the maximum effect by the mediaabstractengineer08-07-2025
- Certainly her sense of timing is totally bizarre. Why create a media firestorm around her husband at exactly the moment he needs full focus on his job and full harmony within the team?mobk08-07-2025
- do you have to be belgian to understand what all this quack quack quack is about? i admit that i just don’t get it…OCexile08-07-2025
- I dislike seeing crashes in road cycling, especially in the Pro Tour, where they pose significant dangers. At this elite level, crashes are frequent and often happen in an instant. That said, Jasper Philipsen consistently stands out as the most dangerous sprinter in every Tour he races. While I’m not pleased to see him crash out of the Tour, he’s well aware of the inherent risks of the sport, and honestly, you could arguably say he had it coming.awp08-07-2025
Pidcock is also explosive though so can kick well out of bends and is shorter so should have a lower cda. Having a lower cda should mean he has less aero drag on a decent. JV actually looks a better technical descender than Pog, and seemed to close the gap in more technical upper sections. Pidcock is technically better than both of them. Look at Remco he lost time on the technical section and was passed by the next group, but his cda to watts ratio meant he could catch back up on the lower less technical sections and start driving that group.
Thanks for bringing up so many factors because there are. Aero, weight, etc and NERVES.
JV had a downhill crash that did serious damage to him this spring so being cautious makes sense.