Jonas Vingegaard: I didn’t have a good day, I had to change my mindset

Jonas Vingegaard will not win the Tour de France for the third time in a row this year, as the Danish rider was again forced to concede to rival Tadej Pogacar on the final climb of stage 19.

“I came to this Tour de France with the mindset to go for the win, but I also knew it was going to be difficult with the lack of preparation I had,” Vingegaard said. “We knew it was a possibility, so I was mentally ready.”

“I think Tadej is at a super high level. I was at a super high level the first two weeks and now a bit less,” Vingegaard said. “I think it’s normal that with only one and a half months of preparation something happens. I always said from the beginning that it would be crazy if I could fight for the win with one and a half months of preparation. I did it for two and a half weeks. Now the fight for the win is over. But the fight for second and third place is not over yet…”

“I didn’t have a good day and halfway through the stage I had to change my mindset from trying to win,” Vingegaard said. “That was also the reason we had Matteo and Wilco in the breakaway, to have satellite riders if I wanted to go. But I had to change my mindset. Instead of attacking, I had to follow. I think tomorrow will probably be the same for me.

“I said before that I wanted to risk second place for the win, but when you have the legs I have now, you have to try to settle for second place.”

“We have seen in the last few days that Pogacar is stronger,” admitted Visma-Lease a Bike DS Gricha Niermann. “We still had hopes for today, but in the end you have to be realistic. At the moment Jonas is the second best rider there.”