"With such a great opponent, being 99 percent is not enough" - Jonas Vingegaard's coach full of praise for Tadej Pogacar

Mathieu Heijboer, a coach for Jumbo-Visma and Jonas Vingegaard has discussed what it's like to compete against Slovenian superstar Tadej Pogacar, claiming "99 percent is not enough."

"Jonas and the rest of the team have to be 100, or even 110, percent to beat Pogacar," Heijboer tells VeloNews. With such a great opponent as him, being 99 percent is not enough. We already knew that, but in Paris-Nice we saw it again."

Despite Pogacar destroying the field at Paris-Nice, laying down a marker in the process, Jumbo-Visma and Vingegaard still have faith that come the Tour de France, history will repeat itself. "Jonas and the team understand what happened and we are still very confident in what we are doing," declares Heijboer. "Every time we go on a training camp, we evaluate that and optimize our plan. What happened to Jonas in February will help for the internship in May, and that will help for the Tour de France."

"It is also a gift to have an opponent like Pogacar. He makes us push the limits, so I have him to thank for that," he continues. "To get to the highest level, we know that we can go very far with training camps. From a physiological point of view, we have everything under control."