Tour de France: Vingegaard wins character time trial

At a few factor the instant came when Tadej Pogacar needed to be satisfied that this character time trial turned into over after exactly 22.Four kilometers. Just a few hundred meters extra and the Slovenian should had been prepared for a humiliating manoeuvre: that his opponent Jonas Vingegaard, despite the fact that he had left the tune two minutes behind him, would nevertheless overtake him at the manner to Combloux. But on the other hand, the final results of that day became a primary setback for Pogacar within the fight for standard victory inside the Tour de France.

He misplaced 1:38 mins to the yellow carrier Vingegaard, earlier than the final tough degree in the Alps this Wednesday he's now 1:48 mins in the back of within the usual standings. Pogacar has already controlled to counterattack as soon as for the duration of this excursion – however now it seems tough to imagine how he might be capable of do it again.

“There are nevertheless a few hard days in advance,” says protecting champion Vingegaard, he remains careful

For days, the 2 rivals have been without a doubt identical in the battle for seconds, but now the only 22.4 time trial kilometers of this tour have to have laid the muse for the choice. Vingegaard were given into the race higher from the begin. In the primary break up he become 16 seconds in advance, within the 2d 31. Then it became time for the maximum hard mountain check of the day, the Côte de Domany, and Pogacar modified his motorcycle mainly for this. But that didn’t help him, on the contrary: up on the The mountain type became already more than a minute in the back of and plenty of seconds have been added to the finish line.

This demonstration via Vingegaard became additionally so high-quality due to the fact Pogacar had clearly been slightly desired for the time trial. “Maybe it wasn’t my great day, I couldn’t do greater these days,” stated the Slovenian after crossing the finish line – despite the fact that this time trial degree yet again underlined how far Vingegaard and Pogacar are floating above the rest of the sphere. Third at the day, Vingegaard’s teammate Wout Van Aert, changed into already almost three minutes at the back of. And inside the standard standings, the third, that's now Pogacar’s teammate Adam Yates, is sort of 9 mins in the back of. However, Vingegaard did now not want to look Combloux’ triumph as a initial decision. “There are nevertheless a few difficult days to return,” he said. “We ought to maintain fighting.”