First fall, then victory: Jonas Vingegaard (right) celebrates his first stage success after more than a year.
Photo: Imago/Matteo Secci
The start of the Vuelta was not always on schedule for Jonas Vingegaard’s big favorite. First he plunged on the second section of the Spain tour in Italy on Sunday, but then he defeated the local hero Giulio Ciccone in the mountain sprint and conquered the red jersey. Then he was still delighted: “It has been since my last victory. That’s why I am very happy about how I felt how the team worked and that I now have the red jersey, «said the Dane.
Police investigated
The morning afterwards, dismay broke out at his Visma racing team. The material car had broken open, 18 wheels worth around 250,000 euros had disappeared. »Our mechanics work with high pressure to ensure that the team can go into the 3rd stage well prepared. The police started the investigation, «said the team.
It is sad for the start of the tour in Italy that it is already the third incident of this kind. A manager of the supplier Shimano was broken up in front of a team hotel at the starting point at Turin and his pinello wheel also stolen in addition to the wallet and papers. It was even more bad, which happened to Vingegaard’s teammate Alex Zingle. The Frenchman had overthrown during the second stage, had his shoulder orbled himself out and narrowed down again, as is the case with the hard deficiencies on the light carbon frame. But while Zingle could be examined in the ambulance after the end of the stages, his bike was stolen. Well, he no longer needed it because his team doctors had decided to take him out of the race after completing the examination.
New explosiveness
Italy is still host of the Spain tour until Tuesday. The 4th stage then leads across the border to France on a hilly course. However, Vingegaard has to wait until Thursday when it comes to PAL in Andorra. The Dane could shine again on this approximately ten kilometer climb. Already at the Tour de France he amazed with newly trained explosiveness on shorter ramps. “I hadn’t thought at first that I was still coming past Ciccone. But then the climb was a little longer than I thought, and I tried it, «he said after his first individual win for more than six months. On the Algarve tour in Portugal, he had won the time trial, his last victory in a stage with a mass start was even more than a year ago.
In the absence of his permanent rival Tadej Pogačar, the three-time tour second at the Vuelta back to the trace of victory. That should also provide him with mental buoyancy. In the 80th edition of the Spain Tour, it was the big favorite from the outset. “I come here to win,” he had explained before the start. The helper guild from the Pogačar racing team Emirates with the double tip from the Spaniard Juan Ayuso and the Portuguese Joao Almeida is particularly opposed to him. With the former Giro winner Jai Hindley, the Red Bull team aims at least a podium place in Madrid. The series of tour specialists is supplemented by Austrian Felix Gall, Australian Ben O’Connor and Mikel Landa from Spain.
Many setbacks
With his victory on the second section, Vingegaard made it very clear that he would like to dominate the race and bring the victory home. The crux for him is that anything but an overall victory would be a further disappointment in this season that has been sufficient in this time.
At least he has not retained any major injuries from the fall. “I came up quite hard, but I only suffered a few abrasions,” he said, and blamed aquaplaning in constant rain for the glimpse. “Because the street was so wet, I slipped more,” he said. Now you can only hope that the replacement wheels also fit well and that Vingegaard can concentrate on the sporting concerns.