“It’s not exactly what we hoped for” – Ineos Grenadiers narrowly pass their first real test in the Tour de France

“It’s not exactly what we were hoping for,” Pidcock admitted. “But it was damage limitation in the end. In three weeks’ time, there are minutes. Twenty-one seconds means nothing.”

Meanwhile, Jonas Vingegaard had an absolutely fantastic ride, without giving Pogacar a single meter. “I wasn’t overly surprised, to be honest,” said Geraint Thomas when asked what he thought of Vingegaard’s form. “We knew he would be good. I expected Tadej to get a hole, so if he didn’t, fair play, hats off to Jonas.”

Ineos DS Zak Dempster shared Pidcock’s positivity in his assessment. “We couldn’t respond. But I think, you know, 21 seconds at this stage is not that bad. We’re going to talk about minutes in the third week… There were a lot of other guys who couldn’t hold the handlebars either.”

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