"Jonas now has to stay on the bike and stay healthy" - Tiesj Benoot remains cautious despite comfortable GC situation

Jonas Vingegaard seems to be in a position where it's nearly impossible to miss out on the Tour de France victory after the mountain stage to Courchevel. The Danish leader of Jumbo-Visma saw his competitor Tadej Pogačar completely collapse on the Col de la Loze and then rode away from the rest, partly with the help of his teammate Tiesj Benoot.

"Jonas now has to stay on the bike and stay healthy. This is a great opportunity to bring home the overall victory," the Belgian remains cautious. "There are still four stages. It won't be until Saturday night that there can have a small party, but he can break his collarbone tomorrow and then it's done, right?"

The fact that Pogačar collapsed and lost almost six minutes on Vingegaard was not expected at Jumbo-Visma either. "We obviously did not expect such a difference. But since winter we had already touched on this stage. All the stages before this also lead to this, plus the fatigue that already sets in after the first two weeks. Today we also rode hard everywhere," he explains.

"That's Jonas' strength. He has the most endurance and we knew he could pull away today and the gap could get big," Benoot concludes.