Jonas Vingegaard: ‘I am on the right track for the Tour de France’
For the Dane, the true finish line this week at the Critérium du Dauphiné is the start line of the 2022 Tour de France in Copenhagen.
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CHAMBERY, France (VN) — A calm, not-so-cool, and collected Jonas Vingegaard could only be content with how Saturday’s summit finale ended up at the Critérium du Dauphiné.
Jumbo-Visma teammate Primož Roglič soared into the yellow jersey, and he rode his coattails into podium contention with second overall.
“I am very happy about how I am doing at the moment, I have to be honest that my shape is really good,” Vingegaard said. “I think I am on the right track for the Tour.”
Jumbo-Visma is slicing through this Dauphiné like a hot knife through French butter.
Wout van Aert dominated the opening five stages, winning two stages and wearing the leader’s jersey every day except one.
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On Saturday, Van Aert passed the yellow jersey torch to Roglič and Vingegaard, and they didn’t spill any wax as the afternoon heat ramped up as steep as the final climb.
On Saturday’s uphill finale to Vaujany, the scenario couldn’t have played out better.
“Both of us felt good, I tried one time to attack, I could see there were not a lot of other riders in the group, Primož was still there, so I decided to pace it for a bit,” Vinegaard said Saturday. “Primož attacked and he made a difference. He went really fast, and I could come in second.”
Going into Sunday’s hors categorie summit finish to decide the 2022 Dauphiné, Vingegaard and Jumbo-Visma are sitting pretty.
“I think we did quite well today,” Vingegaard said at the line high in the French Alps. “Second and third, and we would have liked to have win, but Carlos Verona also deserves to win today.”
Roglič starts in pole position, with Vingegaard protecting his rear flank at 44 seconds back. Only Ben O’Connor is close in third at 1:24 back.
Stranger things have happened on the final stages at the Dauphiné, but the sledgehammer HC summit finish Sunday to Plateau de Salaison should squeeze out any unpredictability from the script.
On such a long and steep climb, only legs and watts will carry the day.
“It’s always hard in the last day of a stage race, we should do our best tomorrow and we will see what it is,” he said.
For Vingegaard, the true finish line this week is the start line of the 2022 Tour de France in Copenhagen.
