"We are up against a stronger opponent" - Grischa Niermann realistic after potentially decisive blow for Jonas Vingegaard on stage 15 of 2024 Tour de France

Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard went head to head yet again on stage 15 of the 2024 Tour de France. For the second day running, it was Pogacar who prevailed and this time, the Slovenian put more than a minute into rival, moving three minutes clear overall as a result.

Understandably, this was a bitter blow for Vingegaard and Team Visma | Lease a Bike. "We are up against a stronger opponent," admits the team's sports director, Grischa Niermann in a post stage interview with NOS. "The men did a great job, as planned actually. Pogacar proves to be too strong again. That's it. Jonas also delivers a super good performance, but Tadej is even stronger."

Whilst Team Visma | Lease a Bike were working hard on the front of the bunch all day, dwindling the Maillot Jaune to just a handful of riders when, at 10km to go, Matteo Jorgenson pulled over and Vingegaard launched his attack. Sadly for the Dane however, Pogacar was straight on the back wheel and after keeping his position for 5km, the Maillot Jaune launched a counter at just over 5km, riding off into the sunset for a 3rd stage win of this Grand Tour.

"We had to do it this way to see if we could tire him out, but apparently that didn't work," Niermann's analysis continues. "The team did a great job. Jonas too. We are proud of ourselves. There is simply a stronger opponent, but we went for it, we controlled the race and just rode super well."

Is this race over then? "Tadej is incredibly good. We managed to beat him the last two years. It's not over yet, but Tadej is still a lot better than Jonas. There are also few points of contact today. This is just it for the moment," Niermann concludes. "We can hope that he weakens because he rode the Giro, but it doesn't look like that at the moment."