"The pressure is on him" - Jonas Vingegaard relaxed and defensive into first mountain battle against Tadej Pogacar

The Col du Galibier is 23 kilometers long at 5% and has it's steepest sections towards the summit finish at above 2600 meters of altitude. It is a day where big differences can be created, but Jonas Vingegaard is not looking to do that. The Tour de France's defending champion is not feeling the pressure to attack or make a move on stage 4, but he does believe that pressure lies on rival Tadej Pogacar.

“I mainly want to defend. We are still in the first week. This could be the phase where I am most vulnerable, so we have to defend in the first week," Vingegaard said before today's stage at the start in Pinerolo. "Later, we will race with a different mindset.” That looks like the logical response from the Dane looking into today, the first day in the mountains of the Tour where most climbers will be testing their form and hoping to come out as best placed as possible.

Vingegaard's form was uncertain into the Tour but the first test on stage 2, he came out with a stellar performance, matching the Slovenian on the explosive climb to San Luca. On this kind of effort Pogacar is traditionally stronger, and so in the mountains the balance could tilt towards the Team Visma | Lease a Bike rider. Hence, Vingegaard will want to keep the race as it is until stage 14 where the peloton starts to enter the decisive stages of the race in the Pyrenees.

“Because of the crash I had, it is logical that the pressure is on him. I am still a question mark. With the preparation I have had, you never know how good I will be for three weeks," Vingegaard adds, perhaps sincere about his own doubts on how he may ride three weeks on a non-ideal preparation as Pogacar did last year. "That preparation was far from ideal. So it seems normal to me that he is the big favorite.”