JONAS VINGEGAARD SOARED to a crushing triumph on stage 16 of the Tour de France on Tuesday, winning the 22.4km time trial by 1min 38sec from Tadej Pogacar, who was second.
“It’s today you win the Tour! Come on! Come on! Come on,” Vingegaard’s team shouted to him over their radio as times showed the Dane was crushing Pogacar along the way.
Pogacar at times appeared as white as the jersey he was wearing. He also fumbled his bike change from the aerodynamic time-trial model to a lighter climbing one at the foot of the steep Cote de Dormancy towards the end of the ride.
“There was nothing I could have done more. This isn’t finished but he took a lot of time,” Pogacar said at the finish line.
The Slovenian was blown away by Vingegaard yet was far stronger than anyone else, finishing 1min 13sec ahead of the third-place rider, Wout van Aert.
After the two were separated by just 10 seconds at the start of the day, the margin appears decisive, but Wednesday’s Queen stage tackles four huge mountains and features both the 20km ascent of the Cormet de Roselend mountain pass and the 28km ascent of the Col de Loze to 2304m altitude.
