Tadej Pogacar "not surprised" by Jonas Vingegaard's level at Tour de France: "It’s the cycling we should all love"
CyclingMonday, 01 July 2024 at 11:05
At the 2024 Giro d'Italia, Tadej Pogacar moved into the race lead on stage 2 and then never let go. On stage 2 of the 2024 Tour de France, the UAE Team Emirates has taken the Maillot Jaune, although this time it looks far from race over.
“A good day? Well, so-so," assesses the two-time Tour de France winner in his post-stage interview, having attacked on the final ascent of the San Luca climb, with only his old rival Jonas Vingegaard being able to match him initially. "Today, when the break went, we knew they had a good chance of making it to the finish. In the final circuit I felt super good and the pace was super high already the first time up San Luca because of how the Visma team pulled. Then, the second time, we decided to try so I could test myself a bit."
Given all the trials and tribulations Jonas Vingegaard has been through over the past few months, spending time in intensive care with a punctured lung most notably, some were incredibly surprised to see the Team Visma | Lease a Bike react so quickly and so strongly to Pogacar's attack on the steep slopes of the San Luca that even ordinarily would favour the Slovenian more than the Dane. Pogacar himself however, was not surprised to see his great rival keep contact.
"Jonas Vingegaard was really quickly on my wheel. I’m not surprised by his level," Pogacar notes. "We cooperated well together, but Remco Evenepoel and Richard Carapaz did it too and came back to our wheel at the very end."
Despite Evenepoel and Carapaz getting back to Pogacar and Vingegaard, it is the UAE Team Emirates leader who moves into the race lead after two stages. "The whole circuit in Bologna was super crowded, and the climb was insane! Really unbelievable. It’s the cycling we should all love," Pogacar concludes. "Am I going to keep the yellow jersey for long? Well, I prefer to take it day by day and stick to the original plan…”
claps 27visitors 3
Just in
Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter today!
May 12, 11:09
0
Popular news
Latest comments
- Riis didn’t see it as a massive oversight by his managment to keep his doping information secret from public.Slowlane13-06-2025
- Your position would hold water were it not for the completely anomalous bidon on a very short TT stage. No one else carried water, there was no rational reason to carry water, and the so-called "conspiracy theory" actually makes sense.verve82513-06-2025
- So true. His tally from ONLY half a season would be a dream career for many cyclists. Eight wins - two of them monuments and multiple podiums as well. It's funny how the cycling media needs a story so bad that they jump on any slightest signs of "weakness" from Pogi, Jonas, or Remco. Example after 2023 some commentators were basically writing Pogi off for the next TdF and saying the only reason he was attempting the Giro Tour double was so he could win a "consolation" GTmobk12-06-2025
- Too much pressure. This poor, super-talented boy can't "just" be Top 5 in a TT stage without the "experts" starting to question him. What he won in the spring races would be the dream of any pro-cyclist to consider his ENTIRE career successful... Let him alone.
maria2024202412-06-2025 - I can imagine this take, simply because it's so common in other forms of racing, like auto racing outside F1. The water bottle is the one that made no sense to me. The rest could be what UAE said, but a water bottle on a 20km TT? Huh.RidesHills12-06-2025
- For me shorter cranks (165) feel better on the knees. Maybe it's a placebo effect, but it feels realmobk12-06-2025
- exactly. Or Simply, he didn't have a good day.maria2024202412-06-2025
- I prefer Occam's Razor. He said he didn't train in TT much due to the spring campaign. It's a good and simple explanation. He's Tadej, why should he resort to this sort of scheme?
KerisVroom12-06-2025 - Enric Mas?? and Bardetpopkip12-06-2025
- Flat-earthers have come to cycling: everyone tries to fabricate the most intricate plot/conspiracy to appear intelligent.maria2024202412-06-2025
Pogi is by far the strongest rider but now he learned Jonas is strong and he need to manage his effort from now on. Yesterday's ride is only correct if he want to test Jonas otherwise no one gets it. Now he saw Jonas was good enough and the real GC fight is on. From now on, select specific GC stage and attack there to crack him.
After all only high mountains will decide who's gonna win the overall. Calm down guys
Two stages in out of 21...let the big mountains decide not some 2km classics climb early on in a grand tour. Sheesh talk about overreaction to Tadeg not dropping Jonas!
Agreed!
He may regret not having tried yesterday now.
Firstly, Jonas has gotten his confidence and confirmation now.
Secondly, Pog struggles a little more than Jonas in high mountains (not me but general consensus amongst those discussion finer details) and Jonas seems to recover better.
Third, UAE team doesn’t seem quite as up to the task as expected, but that might be Pog’s fault for not managing his team well? That said, Jumbo hasn’t made much of an impression asa team but, weren’t expected to as much.
Fourth, Pog is going to lose a lot of energy he’ll need in week 3 (especially after already wasting much for his Giro theatrics) if he’s going to try to win with his constant attacks, as Remco and Richard highlighted yesterday (catching up by just going at their own pace and so being able to recover better overnight).
This thing is shaping up to be 50/50 if nothing clear comes out of day 4 and that’s without considering these two tiring each other out so much that they miss a sneaky move by the other 3. A bit much was made of Rogliç losing touch I feel, Pog did his best for 6 minutes on optimal terrain and he lost a mere 20 seconds from a far from optimal situation, he has been warned and will be careful to manage further time losses if he can, it’s very likely he’ll sit on 20s for a while now, waiting, strategising, maybe working with Remco and Richard if none can count on their mountain teams (tbh, I don’t see any of them outtricking the others’ teams up the mountains, they’re all going to have to ride on gut feelings this year and do all their own surveillance).
Two stages in … overreaction !
He may regret not having tried yesterday now.
Firstly, Jonas has gotten his confidence and confirmation now.
Secondly, Pog struggles a little more than Jonas in high mountains (not me but general consensus amongst those discussion finer details) and Jonas seems to recover better.
Third, UAE team doesn’t seem quite as up to the task as expected, but that might be Pog’s fault for not managing his team well? That said, Jumbo hasn’t made much of an impression asa team but, weren’t expected to as much.
Fourth, Pog is going to lose a lot of energy he’ll need in week 3 (especially after already wasting much for his Giro theatrics) if he’s going to try to win with his constant attacks, as Remco and Richard highlighted yesterday (catching up by just going at their own pace and so being able to recover better overnight).
This thing is shaping up to be 50/50 if nothing clear comes out of day 4 and that’s without considering these two tiring each other out so much that they miss a sneaky move by the other 3. A bit much was made of Rogliç losing touch I feel, Pog did his best for 6 minutes on optimal terrain and he lost a mere 20 seconds from a far from optimal situation, he has been warned and will be careful to manage further time losses if he can, it’s very likely he’ll sit on 20s for a while now, waiting, strategising, maybe working with Remco and Richard if none can count on their mountain teams (tbh, I don’t see any of them outtricking the others’ teams up the mountains, they’re all going to have to ride on gut feelings this year and do all their own surveillance).
'Race is far from over' - pretty obvious given it's only Stage 2
MM said it would be over by day 3 or 4, can’t see that myself.