Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard Nears Victory in the Tour de France
Jonas Vingegaard fired off a blistering ride on a hilly time trial in the Tour de France on Tuesday, winning the stage and seizing control of the race with less than a week until its finish in Paris. His time over the 14 miles was a yawning 1 minute 38 seconds better than that of his rival, Tadej Pogacar, and that lengthened his 10-second overall lead to 1:48, potentially a decisive margin.
For two weeks, Pogacar, of Slovenia, had been whittling away at the early lead of Vingegaard, of Denmark, using his fierce acceleration in carefully timed bursts to blast away on the steepest mountain climbs and steal seconds. The result has been the greatest head-to-head Tour battle in many years.
But sudden acceleration and tactical subtlety were less important on Tuesday’s Stage 16. It was a time trial, with each rider individually traveling a short but hilly course from Passy to Combloux in the Alps.
Instead it was about sustained speed on the flat, downhill and, most important, uphill sections. Pogacar hardly underperformed; he had comfortably the second-best time of the day. But Vingegaard was that much better.
Source: The New York Times
