Vingegaard retains yellow jersey after spectacular fourteenth stage Tour de France
Jonas Vingegaard has finished third in the fourteenth stage of the Tour de France. The first Alpine stage was a spectacle, with the leader of Team Jumbo-Visma holding off an attack by Tadej Pogacar. Vingegaard grabbed the bonus seconds at the top of the final climb, increasing his lead in the general classification by one second. He also took the lead in the mountain classification.
The stage to Morzine les Portes du Soleil was rocked by a big crash early on. Wilco Kelderman and Nathan Van Hooydonck were involved but could continue without many problems. After a short neutralisation, the race broke wide open. Team Jumbo-Visma set a high tempo in the peloton. This ensured that a large breakaway was caught on the penultimate climb before the Col de Joux Plane.
Wout van Aert and Sepp Kuss took the lead for the first few kilometres before Adam Yates put his teammate Pogacar in the lead. Vingegaard kept his own pace and came back after a good effort. After that, the pace was much slower until the summit. Vingegaard surprised Pogacar in the climb’s final metres and took the bonus seconds. The Dane eventually lost out to Pogacar in the final sprint but still finished one second ahead of his opponent, thanks to the bonification seconds.
"Ultimately, I am happy to have finished one second ahead of Pogacar."
"It was a good day”, the 26-year-old Vingegaard said. "I still have the yellow jersey, and I am enjoying it. I have to thank my teammates because they rode great today. We wanted to make the race hard, and we did that. Ultimately, I am happy to have finished one second ahead of Pogacar.”
Vingegaard quickly realised that he could not respond to Pogacar's attack. "He is incredibly explosive. I couldn't follow his attack and ride at my own pace. Luckily I was able to come back. Our level is incredibly close, and that makes it a great fight. We are both super strong.”
Sports director Grischa Niermann agreed with Vingegaard. "The team rode an excellent stage. We wanted to make it a gruelling race, and we succeeded. Of course, we hoped to get rid of Pogacar on the final climb, but he and Jonas were evenly matched. If they continue to race at this level, it will be a battle of seconds to Paris. The positive thing for us is that Jonas managed to get the bonus seconds. Satisfaction prevails today, but there are still some tough days ahead.”