Surprise! In developments everyone knew was coming because this is sport chatter and you can’t ever be defeatist, duh, and despite it being absolutely ludicrous and flying in the face of reality – erm, hello, have you checked the GC recently, Jonas? – Visma-Lease a Bike have come out fighting and declared that the Tour de France is not over. They can still beat Tadej Pogačar.
On the day that the defending champion Pogačar took his second consecutive win in the Pyrenees and his fourth of the race with eight stages still to come, Jonas Vingegaard’s deficit to Pogačar grew from 3:31 to 4:07. A third Tour title for the Dane looks a distant possibility. At least this year, anyway.
In the first 10 days Visma-Lease a Bike were the most aggressive and attacking team, but on stage 12 to the Hautacam, the first mountain stage, they were found wanting and unable to isolate Pogačar. Still, though, Vingegaard believes in his teammates. “The whole team is incredibly strong,” he commented. “We just have to show it in the coming days.”
