The Dane remained on Evenepoel’s wheel behind the unreachable Pogacar. The two exchanged attentions after the finish line, with the Belgian understanding the situation.
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“Games are made“. Pogacar has the Tour de France in his grasp, much to the chasing pack’s dismay. Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoelwho have no choice but to take advantage of the last stages to compete for second place. What happened at the end of the 19th stage was significant, with the Belgian trying to follow the uncatchable yellow jersey, but having to deal with Vingeegard who remained attached to his wheel. The Dane immediately after the finish line was the protagonist of a curious gesture placing his hand on Evanepoe’s lower backwho responded with complicity.
Vingegaard and Evenepoel together at the finish line, exchanging attentions
What is behind Vingegaard’s behavior? In the post-race, Evenepoel showed that he is not angry with Vingegaard for having given up any attempt to break away, or to alternate with the Belgian to try to reduce the distance from the leader of the race. The white jersey of Soudal-Quick Step explained to Sporza: “I noticed that Jonas was not at his best. At the foot of the final climb he immediately chose my wheel and not Pogacar’s. It was a sign that it would continue like this: It is his right to defend second place. He felt he couldn’t win the Tour and I have to accept that. That’s fine. And there’s no shame in crossing the finish line like that.”
Vingegaard’s apology to Evenepoel after the finish
And regarding the gesture, Evenepoel explained what happened immediately after the end of hostilities: “Jonas thanked me for bringing him with me, it was nice”. However, Remco has no illusions about the rest of the Tour, which will now be focused only on the fight for second place: “Sia whether we lose a minute and a half or six on Pogacar, it’s the same now: I’ve given up on the idea. For now our pace seems good for the podium, but it’s not over, tomorrow’s stage is still difficult and it’s the penultimate of the Tour”.
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As for Vingegaard, at the end of the race he let himself go to tears in his wife’s arms. Not a cry of disappointment for the Dane: “I didn’t have the best legs. So we decided to go for the stage win. I’m happy that I didn’t lose time from Evenepoel. Today it was important to follow him, but tomorrow it could be different. I came to this Tour with the idea of going for the overall win. But I also knew that it would be difficult after that serious crash and the few days of racing. So I took this scenario into consideration. Mentally this is certainly not a hard blow.”
Source: www.fanpage.it
