JONAS VINGEGAARD SHOWED class when he waited for defending champion Tadej Pogacar after a fall before going on to beat his Slovenian rival by over a minute on the Hautacam mountain on stage 18 of the Tour de France on Thursday.
The stage win leaves Denmarkโs Vingegaard with an advantage that, barring disaster or a bad fall, should see him ride up the Champs Elysees to win the 2022 title on Sunday.
โI donโt want to talk about winning the Tour yet, letโs talk about it in Paris, there are three days to go,โ Vingegaard said at the line.
The pair have been shadowing each other the entire race, with Pogacar winning three stages and taking the overall leaderโs yellow jersey by stage seven, before Vingegaard took it off him in the baking heatwave in the Alps.
Since then Pogacar has relentlessly attacked the Dane in a stubborn effort to close the gap.
The loss of four of his UAE teammates to positive Covid tests and falls, however, hurt those chances.
On Thursday, Vingegaardโs Jumbo teammate Wout van Aert acted as a support for his team leader on the final climb, and it was at that moment that Pogacar finally cracked.
Earlier and likely equally as damaging, some 28km from home, Pogacar misjudged a corner and Vingegaard cut inside him, spooking the Slovenian who then wobbled and slipped off into a gutter.
The champion swiftly picked himself up, ignoring the gash on his left hand as he hammered the pedal down in pursuit.
Vingegaard, after at first attacking the opportunity, had a change of heart, waiting for his rival, before the two grasped each otherโs hand as Pogacar drew up alongside.
๐ฑ Jonas Vingegaard with a huge save
โ Eurosport (@eurosport) July 21, 2022
๐ฅ Tadej Pogacar goes down
๐ค The yellow jersey waits for his rival to catch up and they shake hands
There really is ๐ง๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ else like the Tour de France ๐#TDF2022 | @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/uavPNO9U7v
โWe like each other, we get on and we respect each other,โ said the Dane.
The gesture will likely serve Vingegaardโs reputation well, within the cycling code of honour, and with the wider public.
Vingegaard now leads Pogacar by three minutes and 26 seconds, while Ineos veteran Geraint Thomas is still third at 8min exactly, three minutes ahead of fourth-placed David Gaudu.
This was the sixth stage finish on this iconic Pyrenean climb, with Vingegaardโs fellow Dane Bjarne Riis in 1996 and Italyโs Vincenzo Nibali in 2014 both going on to win the Tour after winning at the summit.
Stage 19 runs through the isolated Tarn region and will likely end in a bunch sprint.
Saturdayโs stage however is a brutal 41km individual time trial, leaving a glimmer of hope for Pogacar, who won the 2020 Tour with a last-gasp turnaround.
Stage 21 is a largely ceremonial run into Paris, ending with eight laps of the Champs Elysees.
An article like this is a troll magnet
Iโve been waiting for Glen for half an hour.
Kearney displaying typical โruggerโ humour thereโฆ off for a good aul knees up and a pint of heino. D*cks.
How is that typical โruggerโ humour? He made a valid observation (the jersey is swimming on him), and made a joke about it.
AIdeen if they were in person he would have kicked sand over him.. like McBain making fun of the โpunyโ men.
Not so boring now.
Slow day at the office eh zzzzzzz
What used journalists actually do in the days before they could copy very boring stories straight off of twitter?
Horan needs to bulk,up steroids would help,ask any pro rugby player,IF kearney was a man ,he,d have knocked that steroid monkey out cold.
Only real men have โGunsโ.