Thirteenth in the Caen time trial, one minute and 21 seconds behind Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard suffered a hard blow in yesterday's race. The Dane, who was among the favorites, particularly after his result in the Dauphiné time trial, was even beaten by two of his teammates and several riders aiming for the final Paris podium.

The Danish rider was brief in his comments, limiting himself to saying at the team bus that his legs had not functioned properly.

"Simply, I didn't have the right legs - he explained with regret - The result reflects my sensations. Throughout the race, I struggled against my legs and my bike. Of course, this surprised me, but it's part of cycling."

Vingegaard was beaten even by time trial specialists like Bruno Armirail, fourth at 35" and Kevin Vauquelin fifth at 49". Ahead of the Dane were also two of his teammates, Edoardo Affini, who was first for almost the entire race and then finished third at 33" from Evenepoel, and Matteo Jorgenson, eleventh at 1 minute and 19 seconds.

"The Tour is still long and I still believe in myself and my plan - Vingegaard continued - I'm convinced we can still win. My deficit is just over a minute, and in recent years the Tour has always been won with a much wider margin."

Visma Lease a Bike will need to analyze this result and understand what went wrong. It's possible that the Dane had a negative day, which is surprising after his splendid performance on Tuesday, where he finished third in the fourth stage won by Pogacar. Among the hypotheses could be a preparation that focused entirely on mountain results at the expense of time trial performance.