Jonas Vingegaard kept a level head at the end of the first stage of the Tour de France on a sweltering day in the Basque Country.
In his press conference earlier this week, Vingegaard’s main rival for the defence of his Tour title - two time winner Tadej Pogačar - had vowed to attack on the hilly circuit around Bilbao and the Slovenian was certainly true to his word.
The Slovenian, with the help of his teammates, piled the pressure onto Jumbo-Visma and Vingegaard. Eventually Pogačar was left to settle for third and four bonus seconds, as his UAE colleague Adam Yates took the race's first yellow jersey and the stage win.
Despite UAE Emirates throwing the gauntlet down on Saturday afternoon, Vingegaard told the media post-stage that he was very much unfazed by UAE’s fiery opening to the Tour. The reigning champion insisted that there was no need for panic after the Slovenian’s showing.
“No, I guess he took four seconds but as I said also last year, the Tour de France will probably not be decided on four seconds,” Vingegaard said.
Jumbo had been aiming for the stage win with Vingegaard’s teammate Wout van Aert, but despite the victory not materialising, the reigning champion believed his team could take heart from their opening day performance.
Earlier in the day Movistar’s Enric Mas - a rider many expected to put in a strong GC showing this July - came down in a heavy crash along with Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost). Mas was forced to abandon while Carapaz remounted his bike, gingerly continuing in the race.
