LE LIORAN, France (Velo) – Ninety-seven days.
That is the gap between April 4 and July 10, the day Jonas Vingegaard crashed out of the Itzulia Basque Country race and into the intensive care unit and the date of his unlikely, stirring comeback stage win at the 2024 Tour de France in the Massif Central.
On a hot and hill-stuffed stage 11 of the race through the Massif Central with more than 4,000 meters of elevation, Vingegaard surprised himself by pegging back race leader and lone attacker Tadej Pogačar on the penultimate climb, the Col de Pertus, then outsprinting him by centimeters at the steep finish at Le Lioran.
Vingegaard stayed third overall, moving to 1:14 behind Pogačar and only eight seconds behind second-placed Remco Evenepoel, who could not respond to the Slovenian’s attack on the Puy Mary Pas de Peyrol, 31 kilometers from the finish.
This triumph means the world to Vingegaard.
“It’s really because of where I’m coming from in the last three months, all the bad luck. I really believed I was going to die three months ago,” Vingegaard told press in his post-stage conference.
“And now sitting here with a stage victory in the biggest race of the world is really unbelievable. I would never have believed it would be possible to get this far.”
Vingegaard’s valiant chase
Briefly joined by Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) on the Puy Mary descent, Vingegaard dropped him, rallied and pulled back a 30-second deficit on the penultimate climb, the second-category Col de Pertus, after Pogačar had put time into him.
“To be honest, I was actually really surprised I could close the gap. But from the moment he dropped me, I was thinking I’d do a time trial,” the Dane said. “I just did my own pace, saw if I can limit the losses and then all of a sudden on the next climb, he was there in front of me … then I started believing that I could catch him back.”
He also took confidence and motivation from nearly beating the Slovenian for bonus seconds in a sprint at the top of the Col de Pertus. “It was close at least, he didn’t beat me by lengths like he normally does,” he says. “Still, I was surprised to beat him in the last sprint.”
The stage win could be the moment that transforms Vingegaard and Visma-Lease a Bike’s Tour de France after incremental time losses on stage 4 over the Galibier and in the Bourgogne time trial on stage 7.
“Of course I hope this stage win is the turning point, not only for this race but our whole season. We’ve had so much bad luck, not only me, but everyone in the team,” Vingegaard said.
Race leader Pogačar suggested in a post-race interview that the Dane was in the shape of his life. “I don’t think you can be in the best shape of your career after one and a half months of training,” was Vingegaard’s response.
“The Iceman” is back.
Visma joy at unexpected triumph
https://twitter.com/VelonCC/status/1811076839957238016
Vingegaard’s fourth Tour de France stage win had a special tone. Nobody on the team could quite believe it. A roar of “Yessss!” was audible from the Visma-Lease a Bike team bus at the moment he pipped Pogačar.
Emotions ran high. Team coach Frans Maassen went quiet and his eyes swum with tears as he struggled to talk in his post-race interviews. General manager Richard Plugge was high-fiving staff members left, right and centre.
“I’m so happy for him. This is really redemption,” Plugge told media at the team bus. “I was already really proud and happy he was able to compete at the Tour de France, now he’s even winning a stage. Wow, legend.”