Jonas Vingegaard finished 37 seconds behind Tadej Pogachar and lost another 13 seconds due to time bonuses in the fast race over the Galibier Pass and the descent to the finish in Valloire, but he had the best run of the others on stage 4 of the 2024 Tour de France He showed.

The Tour is often compared to soccer because of the European Championships in soccer, and Vingegaard felt he lost 1-0 to Pogachar.

"I expected to be behind 3-0, so maybe a small victory," Vingegaard said after the stage.

"We came here believing we would lose time on three of the first four stages, so just losing time on one stage is pretty good... We thought we might be over two minutes behind, so to only be 50 seconds behind is pretty good. Our time will come

"I doubted myself before this Tour, but it wasn't that he was strong on the climbs. I wanted to close the gap, not open it. I wanted to stay with him, but that's life."

"The Tour is long. We know what we have to do. We believe in our plan like we have the past two years and we will know at the end of the Tour."

Vingegaard was the only one able to keep up with Pogachar when he attacked in the last kilometer of the Galibier Pass, but lost his handlebars at the final hairpin as Pogachar accelerated at a furious pace.

The two fought for second place on the 20 km downhill to the finish, but Pogachar took second place after Pogachar The two raced at 90 km/h, but Pogachar gradually widened the gap.

Vingegaard was caught on the descent by Remco Evenpole (Sudar-Quick Step), Primoš Roglic (Red Bull-Bohra-Hansgrohe), Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates), and Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) and finished in fifth place.

He was two seconds behind them at the finish and gained no bonus seconds. Evenpole gained 8 seconds on this stage to move into second place overall by 45 seconds. Vingegaard was third overall by 50 seconds.

Vimalies a Bike boldly wrote on social media, "All to play for," but the first mountain stage of the Tour de France showed that Vingegaard, although highly capable, was a step below Pogachar.

"Most of the time I lost today was on the second descent, not the first, where weight was important,"

Vingegaard insisted, "but I'm not going to accept that. I have to accept that."

Pogachar was able to attack after his UAE and Emirates teams had made everyone suffer in the valley to the foot of the Galibier, especially with the headwind on the climb. Vingegaard was soon alone.

Matteo Jorgenson did everything he could to protect him, but the American was spit out of the group 5 km from the summit. Vingegaard publicly defended his team, but Visma Lease-a-Bike appears to be much weaker than this year's UAE Team Emirates.

"It always helps when you have a helper, and maybe we would have let him run up front. That's how it was today," Vingegaard said.

"I know how good Matteo [Jorgenson] and Wilco [Kelderman] are. They will come out in the second half of the race."

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