2024 Tour de France runner-up and 2022 and 2023 overall winner Jonas Vingegaard (Vimaris a Bike) claimed that an important takeaway from this year's race was that, although he lost, his second place finish, due to his circumstances following his return from a bad injury in April, almost He claimed that, despite the loss, his second place finish almost felt like a victory due to his situation after his return from a bad injury in April.

“So, of course, I didn't win the Tour de France, but when I have time to look back in a few weeks, a second place finish will make me more proud than two wins,” Vingegaard said Sunday night.

Following his second place in Saturday's Col de la Cuilloles, Vingegaard's second place in the final time trial of the Tour was his fourth second place stage finish of the competition. His top three finishes began with second overall (2021) behind 2024 winner Tadey Pogachar (UAE Team Emirates), followed by two overall wins in 2022 and 2023, and again in 2024.

However, the overall lead remained out of reach in 2024, with Vingegaard reaching the winner's podium only once before the final lineup in Nice, with a stage win at Le Riolan.

But as the management of Visma Reese A Bikes repeatedly told the media at the Grande Pearl in Florence, just making the Tour was an immense victory for the Dane, given his terrible crashes this spring. His words at the final press conference on Sunday evening underscored how proud the 27-year-old is to have competed at a high level in this year's Tour.

“First of all, I'm very happy to be back at a very, very high level. After everything that happened with the crash and the setbacks this year, of course it wasn't good, but to be second in the Tour de France is a great result.”

“All things considered, it's probably a bigger result than winning the Tour de France, where everything was perfect. So, of course, I will never win the Tour de France, but when I have time to look back in a few weeks, maybe I will be more proud of second place than two wins."

Vingegaard's performance in the opening 10 days of the Tour, in which he had not raced since his April crash, led to more optimism than he and his team had hoped.

He was the only one able to keep up with Pogachar, who attacked on the ultra-steep San Luca in Bologna on stage 2, losing only 38 seconds on stage 4 of the Galibier, the key mountain test of the first week. After minimizing time losses in the time trial and holding off the rampaging Pogachar in the always unpredictable gravel stages, Vingegaard suffered a shocking defeat to the Slovenian in Le Riolan. At that point, the Tour seemed wide open, and journalists even told Pogachar after the stage that Vingegaard was ahead of him in the big GC game.

“From the day I won the stage, I believed I could win the Tour de France. I knew I could win the Tour de France the day I won the stage."

”The Plateau de Beille (on stage 15) was my best performance ever on a long 40-minute climb.

“I was looking at my power numbers and I couldn't believe it myself. But Taddei was even stronger. His run in the Tour was really impressive. 0]

At the midpoint of stage 19 in La Bonnette-Restefonds, Vingegaard was still optimistic that he could reverse Pogachar's three-minute overall lead.

But it did not come to pass. Instead, realizing that he would not win the Tour that day, Vingegaard radically switched his strategy, from an all-out attack to trying to hold off rivals like third-place Lemko Evenpole (Sourdal-Quick Step)

. He recalls, “I felt really bad on the stage to Izola, and when I crossed the line I was completely empty.”

“Halfway through the stage, I realized that today I had to change my mindset so that instead of attacking, I was putting my life on Lemko's wheels.”

But it wasn't just about chasing the wheel. Vingegaard made a brave rear tow on stage 20, pulling away from Evenpoel to secure second place. The main thing, of course, was that he was able to participate in the Tour, to fight for the podium, and perhaps more than that for a long time.

“I think the highlight for me was being able to fight like this with Lemko and Taddej. Of course, coming back from the fall, being back in the peloton and no longer being afraid to be in the peloton are also highlights.”

“When you have a crash like this, I don't think you have any idea how you're going to feel coming back, how you're going to feel on the descents, how you're going to feel in the group. He added, “There were days when I was able to ride at a higher [performance] level than I used to,” he said.

However, the game has shifted since 2023, as Pogachar outperformed even Vingegaard's ability to beat the Slovenian by more than seven minutes last July. Pogachar's dominance makes it hard to recall that he was the same athlete who shouted “I'm dead, I'm dead” when Vingegaard tore the race apart at the Col de la Rose a year ago in July.

But if Pogachar's performance in 2023 must be viewed in the context of his broken wrist in April of that year, which ruined half his Tour de France preparations, then when asked what could be improved for 2025, the Dane said April 2024 and cited his own horror crash at Iturria Basque, which defined much of his racing this season.

“It's always difficult to say what I can improve on. I think my whole preparation was far from ideal this year, so I need to take a big step forward there,” he said, then added laconically, ”A big step is that I broke almost all the bones on the right side of my upper body and didn't puncture both lungs.”

“So I think it would also be a big step to train and not have those setbacks. And of course, we have to look at all the things we can improve on.”

The fact that he had his best climbing performance in this year's Tour was also cause for optimism, and he agreed that “to be honest, I only had six weeks of proper training, so this preparation has given me a certain amount of confidence.”

“It was far from ideal, I was in the hospital for 12 days and couldn't leave my bed in the intensive care unit for 8 days. So this time I felt confident that at least next year I will be better prepared”

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The rest of the season, however, is another story. After finishing second in last year's Vuelta a España, rumors abound that he will be heading to the start of the race in Lisbon on August 17. However, Vingegaard made it clear that he would not be taking part in Portugal in August, believing that after nine mentally and physically draining months, the main thing he wanted to do after the Tour was to rest.

“I can honestly say that since last November I haven't had a day of rest in my head,” he said. 'Since then, it's always been about training, nutrition, and getting in shape.' Since then it's always been about training, nutrition, and trying to get better.

“Just preparing for the Tour de France was a big battle. And for a long time I doubted if I would even be ready,” he concluded.

But even if Pogachar's dominating performance and his second consecutive Giro-Tour victory were the major talking points on the Monday after the Tour, Vingegaard was not forgotten. Not just because the same riders have lined up in front of or behind Pogachar on the Tour de France podium for the past four years.

From Vingegaard's determination to participate, to his stage win in Rio Ran, to his guts in defending his place on the podium, to his many second place podiums in the final weekend in Nice, ....... This will no doubt mean a lot again in the future, both at the Tour and in many other races.

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