Jonas Vingegaard successfuly breaks Tadej Pogacar in colossal Tour de France stage: "I'm going to keep fighting for it all the way to Paris!"

Jonas Vingegaard and Jumbo-Visma tried to raid Tadej Pogacar in the third Alpine stage of this year's Tour de France, however it was in a direct battle that the Danish climber managed to distance the race leader, and deal a big amount of damage in the race.

"I can't believe it, it's really unbelievable. It's hard to put this into words. I've always dreamed of this. A stage and the yellow jersey in the Tour de France," Vingegaard said in the flash interview. Although Primoz Roglic lost his GC chances and left the Dane as the team's sole card, it was a plan well executed and with the results that were hoped. Jonas Vingegaard won his first Tour de France stage and is the new leader of the race after the first queen stage.

“It would never have been possible without my teammates, they were all incredibly good. We had made a plan before the start to make a very tough race for me and Primoz," he explained. With Christophe Laporte and Wout van Aert in the breakaway, Jumbo had the cards to play offensive at the Col du Télégraphe and first slopes of the Col du Galibier, where both Roglic and Vingegaard attacked the race leader, with only Geraint Thomas riding alongside the trio.

After a bit of restbite, Vingegaard managed to follow the attacks of Pogacar himself up the Col du Galibier. “I was a bit insecure at the time, he was very strong on the Galibier," Vingegaard added. He went on to save his cards for the Col du Granon however. The group quickly split up, and Vingegaard made his move with just under five kilometers to go, quickly distancing himself from Tadej Pogacar and causing havoc in the GC.

"When I finally attacked on the last climb, I felt it crack. I had to try again or else I wouldn't win. Second is nice in the general classification, but I want to go for the win," he described. Over one minute over all competition, and a total of 2:51 minutes on Pogacar see him lead the overall classification now with 2:16 minutes over Team DSM leader Romain Bardet.

“It worked and now I have the yellow jersey. I'm going to keep fighting for it all the way to Paris!" he concluded. Tomorrow's brutal stage into Alpe d'Huez will already be a very tough challenge, however Vingegaard seems to be the rider with the best capacity and team support for the long climbs of the Tour.