Whilst Jonas Vingegaard and Team Visma | Lease a Bike were on the back foot to an attacking Tadej Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel on the gravel stage 9 of the 2024 Tour de France, when the dust settled, all the big names crossed the line side by side.
"I think it was a great team performance in this stage," assessed Team Visma | Lease a Bike's sports director, Grischa Nierman in a post-stage interview, with quotes collected by In de Leiderstrui. "Jonas got a flat tyre on the third sector, but luckily we knew he could continue on Jan Tratnik's bike. It has the same saddle height and that's what he finished on. Tiesj Benoot also got a flat and that put us under quite a bit of pressure."
Thankfully, riding on a teammate's bike, didn't hinder Vingegaard too much on the stage, with the Dane being able to follow each of Pogacar and Evenepoel's many attacks, nullifying them in the process. "We knew Jan is the same size and Jonas wanted to ride on that too," Niermann continues. "Jonas was also under pressure from Pogacar and he did a great job, but he can also thank his team."
"I don't know if it was harder than expected, but it was tough anyway. Hats off, then. To Pogacar, but also to Wout van Aert, Christophe Laporte and Matteo Jorgenson. If they hadn't been there, Pogacar would have finished a minute and a half ahead of the other riders. We were the only team that could still put it right, so hats off," Niermann concludes.
"The entire team rode great, but I also have to compliment Niermann. He is very smart and because of his idea Tratnik rode behind Vingegaard all day, so that we could change if necessary. In addition, the team was very strong, so I have to give my compliments," adds Merijn Zeeman. "We are so happy with Matteo, but Pogacar was incredibly strong. We needed the whole team to cool him down a bit."
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