2023-07-19 08:53:52
The yellow jersey knocked out his rival Tadej Pogacar, the entire Tour de France, and the most candid consciences on Tuesday during the Combloux time trial.
The mountain stormed for the first time on the Tour de France, Wednesday July 19, in the early morning, a few hours before the start of the queen stage of the event. Dense fog and gusty rain, climatic metaphor for the state in which Jonas Vingegaard left the world of cycling after his blockbuster performance the day before, during the time trial between Passy and Combloux, 22.4 km bumpy, swallowed in 32′36′’, with supernatural differences: 1′38″ ahead of his rival Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), 2′51″ over his teammate Wout van Aert, yet already exceptional marks.
A few days ago, in response to a question about the ascent records he is chaining with Pogacar, Vingegaard almost anticipated: “Yes, I completely understand the questions on this subject because of the past of our sport. It’s even good to be skeptical because otherwise it will happen again. All I can say is I’m not taking anything. It’s true that we are going fast, even faster than them (the former doped runners, editor’s note). Equipment, nutrition, training, everything has changed and that explains why performance is improving. But it’s okay to be skeptical.” Two days later, and after his time trial which stunned the Tour and the most candid consciences, the suspicious people stick their heads out of the embankments. Throughout the evening, on social networks, lambda and followers expressed their dismay, questioning, amazement. “Mutants”, “lunar”, “the biggest joke since 1996”, the year when the Dane Bjarne Riis, the man with blood in jam convinced of doping, won the yellow jersey, can we read on Twitter.
“It seems to me rather wise to doubt”
The figures of the dark years have come out of the filing cabinets, the calculators are on fire. “Even after Pogacar changed his bike and took a lighter bike, Vingegaard gained 50 seconds over the last five kilometers. It was an incredible performance. Possibly the best performance ever! I believe that the last yellow jersey to have so much dominated his second on a stopwatch was Jacques Anquetil in 1961. He had put him five seconds per kilometer”, is surprised in West-France the former wearer of the yellow jersey Michael Rasmussen, consultant for a Danish newspaper, released from the 2007 Tour for evading doping controls before the big start, and who later confessed his doping.
Asked by RMC sport, coach and performance manager at Cofidis Samuel Bellenoue, shares his surprise: “Philosophically, it seems rather wise to me to doubt and to wonder. […] When we take the climbing times, the climbing speeds (since the start of the Tour, editor’s note), we see that we are on things that did not even exist during the time of doping, so that raises questions. But I am not able to go further than this questioning.
The sporting achievement, prowess to cultivate. But the sporting achievement every day, for more than two weeks? The Dane, like the Slovenian by the way, has been kicking the Tour since its launch in Bilbao. Vingegaard himself fell from his machine on Tuesday… “From the start, I immediately felt that I was fine and that I was going to have an incredible day. Even when I kept some under the pedal, I was sending very high watts. I couldn’t believe it. I even thought my power meter was broken. The Jumbo-Visma, at the end of the evening, affixed a layer of explanation on the time of its rider, on Twitter: “Strategy, equipment, staff, Jonas… Everything was put in place today. #Rideyourdreams.” Demining operation?
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