Riders that win multiple Tour de France aren’t like the others – a pretty obvious statement in itself. What generally sets them apart, other than their ability to ride so fast that you can only wonder how they do it, is a self-belief that the race is never over. Even when they have received a major blow from a rival, they have the capacity to quickly move on from what happened to what they are going to do to recover the situation.
When Jonas Vingegaard beat Tadej Pogačar in a sprint finish at Le Lioran on stage 11, the momentum seemed to shift in favour of the defending champion. On that day, he was stronger than his rival and both he and Pogačar took that information and plotted the next clashes that awaited in the big mountains of the Pyrenees.
