Jonas Vingegaard took an incredible win at the Tour de France on Wednesday, and said it meant a lot to him, given what he’s gone through. Wednesday’s stage of the Tour de France set the stage for an intense weekend in the Pyrenees. Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard clashed on the short, sharp climbs of the Massif Central. In a two-up sprint, Vingegaard narrowly beat the yellow jersey, gaining back a single second on Pogačar. Derek Gee finished 12th but slipped out of the top 10 overall.
Pogačar appeared to have the race under control and seemed to be cruising ahead to a win with almost a half-minute lead on Vingegaard. But the Dane fought back, dropping Primoz Roglič chipping away at Pogačar’s lead, with Remco Evenepoel joining Roglič.
The Dane caught up to the Slovenian before the crest, but Pogačar earned more bonus seconds. Evenepoel and Roglič were 49 seconds behind.
On the Cat. 3 Col de Font de Cère, a climb that suited neither Pogačar nor Vingegaard’s attacking styles, they stayed 38 seconds ahead of Evenepoel and Roglič. All that remained was a short but tricky descent and the final rise to the finish. Roglič crashed but still secured fourth place. The yellow jersey attacked from behind, but the Dane narrowly held him off. Vingegaard was emotional after his victory.
“It’s of course very emotional for me. Coming back from the crash,” he begins, before breaking down. The Dane crashed in a horrific way at the Tour of Basque Country and would be hospitalized for 12 days. He would begin a long comeback to training, and would skip any of the traditional lead-up races to the Tour. “All the things I went through, in the last three months. This means a lot.”
Watch the post-race interview below. And by the way, tt’s OK, we are cutting onions at the Canadian Cycling Magazine office, too.
An emotional Jonas Vingegaard reacts to his Tour de France stage win after coming back from the terrible crash earlier this year. #TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/Laz2jHhCwC
— NBC Sports Cycling (@NBCSCycling) July 10, 2024
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Canadian Cycling Magazine…