If we had to describe this year's Tour de France in one image, with the two major GC contenders for the 2024 Tour de France going in very different directions, Jonas Vingegaard finally emerging from the anti-doping car at the finish of stage 15 and losing his second straight Pyrenees race to Tadej Pogachar It could have been worse than the moment he started getting questions about.

As Vingegaard pedaled gently into the crowd of microphones and TV cameras and gave an on-bike interview, Pogachar himself appeared at the finish line following his post-stage media availability. Dressed in the yellow jersey, Pogachar rode smoothly and almost imperceptibly through the backs of the press surrounding Vingegaard, who still had six days of racing left.

Nothing could have been easier for Pogachar at this point, given that he had dropped Vingegaard at the Plateau de Beille, 5km from the finish line, to gain a 68-second advantage, and now had a more than three-minute lead over the Danes on GC. But if Pogachar's third Tour de France win is now considerably more certain than it was 24 hours ago, Vingegaard and the Vismaris A bike team will spend much of their Tour rest day pondering the implications of this defeat.

Perhaps the key point Vingegaard made to reporters at the finish line after stage 15 is that he will not throw in the towel in the GC fight. On the contrary, Vingegaard felt that he could still win the Tour in 2024.

"I'm actually really proud of my run and my team's run. Everyone rode really strong and super hard," Vingegaard said. [On the last climb, I think I gave one of the best performances of my life. But Taddei was very strong.

"I think I still have a chance to win the Tour. The Tour de France is not over yet and in the last two years Taddei has had some bad days. We can only hope that it could still happen."

"If he keeps up this level, it will be difficult, but there is still a chance. I'm not disappointed. I think it was one of the best performances of my life."

The management of Vimaris A Bikes similarly assured Vingegaard that this was not the end of his road to a third consecutive Tour de France victory, but they were also aware that he had suffered a serious setback . On the plus side, Vingegaard had further solidified his place on the podium with a nearly 2-minute lead over Remco Evenpole (Soudal-Quickstep). At the same time, however, his chances for the yellow jersey were far from his grasp.

"This is not a knockout blow," Visma sport director Grischa Niermann told reporters waiting for the team car on the other side of the finish line. Jonas is still in second place." Jonas is still in second place.

"A lot can still happen," he insisted, "and we never surrender until the end. But all we can do at this point is accept that Pogachar is too strong."

Even if the outcome of the Pogachar victory was the same as the 14th stage, the preparations could not have been more different. Before this stage, Vingegaard had stressed that the longer, tougher stage, with nearly 5,000 meters of climbing, would be more advantageous. So instead of the UAE setting a fierce pace on the final climb, as in Pula Dade, this time the Visma-Ries A bike continued to break away all the way until Vingegaard attacked.

"Everyone gave it their all. They followed the plan from start to finish. We have to be happy with that," Niermann reiterated Vingegaard's words. I wanted to make the race very hard and bring it down to a one-on-one battle on the final climb." We executed that. But it didn't work out."

Niermann also confirmed what Vingegaard said was one of the best climbing performances of his career, the Plateau de Beille climb. The crucial difference, however, is that if Vingegaard was at or near his best, it was especially after coming back from such a severe accident and long recovery period.

"We did our best and Jonas did a great job, coming back from injury and in good condition. The numbers [of vingegoals] are good and I don't know exactly if they are close to last year or better. But Pogachar seems to be better [than last year]."

Like Vingegaard, Nierman remained defiant when asked the million-dollar question about whether another plan to beat Pogachar would emerge, but he was realistic about the Dane's options. 'We'll just have to wait and see,' he said. 'But if he [Pogachar] keeps riding like this, it will be very difficult.'

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