Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard must be 'willing to lose' to thwart Tadej Pogacar defence at Tour de France
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BySam Few
Updated 02/07/2022 at 15:23 GMT
Jumbo-Visma pair Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard are vying for the team leadership at this year's Tour de France, but one of them may have to sacrifice individual glory to prevent Tadej Pogacar from claiming an historic third Tour title. The smallest of margins separated the team-mates after a soaking wet opening time trial stage in Copenhagen on Friday, where Yves Lampaert stormed to victory.
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Jumbo-Visma co-leaders Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard must be "willing to lose" to prevent defending champion Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) from retaining his title at the Tour de France this month, according to Matt Stephens on The Bradley Wiggins Show.
Pogacar finished eight seconds ahead of the Jumbo-Visma pair, who were separated by just one second, after the opening time trial stage in Copenhagen on Friday where overall victory was claimed by Yves Lampaert, while there was no major movement in GC on Stage 2.
Speaking on Eurosport's podcast ahead of Saturday's crosswind-affected stage, British former professional cyclist Matt Stephens described Vingegaard as a "confident" young man and that the dynamic between himself and team-mate Roglic will be key to denying Pogacar the yellow jersey.
He suggested Roglic and Vingegaard may need to sacrifice their own chances of winning to thwart Pogacar's charge towards what would be an historic third Tour de France success.
Stephens said: "When asked about his chances for the Tour, [Vingegaard] said: 'Yeah I think I can win. I think there's two of us but I don't know who the leader is.'
"It wasn't 'I'm going to be working for Roglic.' That's going to be quite interesting how they manage that between them as I don't think anybody can, pound for pound, beat Pogacar.
"I think you need to be smart and you need a team with two distinct leaders where one is willing to lose. That's what they've got to try and do in my opinion."
Wiggins believes that Vingegaard may have the edge out of the Jumbo-Visma team, despite little separating him and Roglic after the first stage, citing the battle between the pair which could be won or lost in the mountain stages.
"There's nothing between them two," said Wiggins.
"I think it's going to be a real battle and obviously those two are on the same team so I think that's where they're going to have to use their numbers against Pogacar.
"Vingegaard, for me, has more of an outside chance of winning out of Jumbo-Visma than Roglic. I think Vingegaard will out-climb Roglic in the mountains and be the only one capable of climbing with Pogacar."
Wiggins also praised the standing Roglic has within his team and the sport, arguing that Jumbo-Visma have the best chance of changing the destination of the coveted Tour title come the end of July.
"I think if anyone can do it, Jumbo-Visma can. Roglic is the type of leader who is well respected in that team. I think he's got good relationships with everyone within that team."
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