Two GC defeats in two days in the Tour de France normally do not do wonders for a rider's morale. But after Friday's time trial, when he talked to reporters, Jonas Vingegaard both looked and sounded like a man with a completely renewed spirit to fight for the GC between here and Paris, despite coming second to Tadej Pogačar for a second time in 24 hours.
Vingegaard's mood switch was due to a much better feeling on the bike, he explained. So even though he lost 36 seconds to the Slovenian on the 10.9-kilometre uphill slog to Peyragudes altiport on Friday, and there was certainly no repeat of his stunning Alpine TT ride in Combloux two years ago, his second runner-up spot was more than enough to constitute a bounceback.
