“We have a plan but we’re not going to say what it is" - Vingegaard and Jumbo-Visma plan on attacking Pogacar in the Alps

Up until the second rest day of the Tour de France, Jonas Vingegaard has seemed to be the only rider capable of matching Tadej Pogacar in the climbs. The Jumbo-Visma leader enters the second week 39 seconds behind the race leader, and plans on taking yellow.

"I’m still feeling good, it’s only been one week, one hard week of course, but the shape is good and hopefully I have some good days to come," Vingegaard said during the rest day. "Last year I was a bit more... not relaxed but let's say pragmatic if something happened and it didn’t matter if I lost time. This year is the opposite; we don't want to lose time. Being 39 seconds down on Pogačar is not nice but it’s the Tour de France and everything can happen."

Having passed the first week without loosing any unnecessary time and matching Pogacar on the climbs, he its putting on the pressure. He's explained his cobbled-stage mishap where he had to switch bikes multiple times: “Looking back, that moment was pretty funny. I made a mistake, then the chain got stuck in the frame. I should have just stopped, pulled out the chain and put it back on. That would have been way faster than changing bikes four or five times," he explained.

Still with the help of the team and mainly Wout van Aert the losses were minimal. They were noticeable for Primoz Roglic who dislocated his shoulder, but managed to come home two minutes after and save some GC ambitions. “Ever since, the racing has been good again but Primož’s crash was not so nice and he lost a lot. But we will keep on fighting and there are still two weeks left in the Tour," Vingegaard said.

Now in more favorable terrain, the high mountains, Vingegaard is hoping to turn the tables and be the one putting on the offensive on UAE Team Emirates. “We have a plan but we’re not going to say what it is. You have to see what the plan is. We’ll try to do our best,” he argued. “We always have a plan but we also know that things can go wrong and it went wrong. Now we just have to look at everything and see what the best possible plan is. 

The two stages into the Col de Granon and Alpe d'Huez specially will shape the race massively, with the altitude and the long ascents to cause havoc and further establish the battle for the overall classification. Vingegaard is aware that he will need to attack the mountain stages. When he was asked for a place he'd dream of winning he answered: "Probably L’Alpe d’Huez. It’s a special climb in the Tour de France, there’s always so many spectators and it’s a special mountain."

“I know I can do a good time trial but I know that Pogačar can also do a good time trial. I wouldn’t be confident to count on my time trial at the end of the race. We'll try in the next two weeks and we’ll see how," he concluded.