Realistic assessment of Tour situation from Merijn Zeeman: "Yellow is not going to happen and then you have to try to finish as high as possible"
Cycling
With Wilco Kelderman and Matteo Jorgenson in the leading group, Team Visma | Lease a Bike had everything prepared for the anticipated Jonas Vingegaard strike. However that never happened and instead it was the yellow jersey who took the stage away from Vingegaard' American teammate.
"No, there was no cure for it," sports director Merijn Zeeman was honest at NOS. "Simply unheard of. Hats off to him. Our team was fantastic. We fought for what we were worth. Matteo was only caught late. Too bad, really too bad. Jonas felt good, but there was nothing you could do about it."
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The team had sketched out all sorts of scenarios beforehand. "Defensive, offensive, and also fighting for the day's victory. Wilco and Matteo could get ahead thanks to the work of Wout and Christophe. If Jonas felt really good, we would have someone up front. If he felt less good, we would also have someone in defense. A fantastic team performance."
Vingegaard made no attempt to make things difficult for Pogacar and on Isola 2000 he did not even try to follow the Slovenian's attack, who easily recovered the 4 minutes to catch back to the leading group. "Jonas' form is very good, but there is one who is much better. We calculated how much Matteo needed. 4.5 minutes at the foot. The calculation was correct, but at the foot he only had a little more than four."
Vingegaard's gap to Pogacar is now over 5 minutes and it seems that all hope is lost already. "There are still two days. It was a status quo between Jonas and Remco. Yellow is not going to happen and then you have to try to finish as high as possible. I am especially proud. It would have been nice if he had won the stage, but it just wasn't in the cards."
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Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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🇫🇷 #TDF2024 Determination, courage, perseverance and suffering, it’s all in it. 👊🏼🥵
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