CAEN, France :Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) lost over a minute on Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), who took the Tour de France’s leader’s yellow jersey, during the stage five time trial on Wednesday.
Twice Tour champion Vingegaard finished 13th, one minute 21 seconds behind stage winner Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) and one minute five seconds adrift of Pogacar. Third overall before the start of the stage, he is now in fourth place, trailing Slovenian Pogacar by a minute and 13 seconds.
“My legs were not feeling so good. I was fighting with my bike and my legs today,” Vingegaard told reporters. “I was a bit surprised about my legs but that’s racing. One minute seems like quite a lot but in the last few years, the Tour has been won for more than that.”
Vingegaard’s race director Grischa Niermann was unable to understand the Dane’s struggles.
“I don’t have an explanation. We didn’t expect a loss that much but it happened and we will fight again tomorrow,” he said.
The result shocked Pogacar, the three-times Tour winner who claimed the yellow jersey for the first time this year.
“For sure I was surprised, I’m not going to lie. I was not expecting to be so far ahead of him in this time trial. I was expecting him to be closer to Remco than me,” Pogacar told a press conference.
Vingegaard, however, remains optimistic about his chances of regaining the lead, with the high-mountain stages not coming before stage 12 in the Pyrenees.
“Luckily, the Tour is long, I still believe in myself and in our plan and still believe that we can win,” he said.
