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Vingegaard dodges bullet after race jury saves him from disastrous Tour de France time losses in crash chaos to keep him tied with Pogačar on eve of first mountain summit.
Vingegaard crosses the line Wednesday at the Tour de France after avoiding a time loss. (Photo: Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP)
Jonas Vingegaard barely escaped disastrous time losses Wednesday in a nervous crash-marred finale on stage 5 of the Tour de France.
A fast bike swap and a favorable race jury ruling kept the Visma-Lease a Bike leader level with Tadej Pogačar just a day before the Tour’s first mountain stage.
It could have gone the other way.
The Visma-Lease a Bike leader was caught up behind a late crash just beyond the race’s 5-kilometer safety zone, meaning that time splits at the line count in the general classification.
“Jonas had to change bikes in the finale, after which he reached the finish on Victor’s bike,” Visma sport director Marc Reef said. “Fortunately, the team suffered little damage in the end and Jonas finished in the same time as his opponents.”
For a few anxious moments, it appeared Vingegaard’s near-perfect opening week might unravel when riders crashed just outside the 5km to go banner.
Teammate Campenaerts saved the day by handing over his bike and Visma teammates helped drive him to the line.
“We knew it was a dangerous corner,” Reef told Belgian TV. “Jonas got his bike from Victor, we rode hard to the finish line, and it didn’t cost us anything.”
Initially, it appeared Vingegaard might have conceded precious seconds to Pogačar.
The crash occurred just beyond the 5-kilometer safety zone but it was unclear if the race jury would impose time gaps on the bunch because the crash was so close to the limit.
Officials results later confirmed that the race jury assess splits at the finish after it appeared that the Dane rolled in about 10 seconds behind Pogačar and other GC rivals.
Luckily for Visma, the race jury ruled there were many other riders between Pogačar and Vingegaard to trigger separate time splits.
Under UCI regulations, riders must be separated by at least three seconds for time gaps to be assigned.
“There were riders everywhere, so you didn’t have 3-second gaps,” Reef told Sporza. “There were about 10 seconds between Pogačar and Jonas, but with riders in between, then everyone is put in the same time.”
Visma dodged a bullet in more ways than one.
Vingegaard and Pogačar were both credited with the same time at 14 seconds behind stage winner Olav Kooij.
Vingegaard remains tied on time with Pogačar heading into Thursday’s first major mountain showdown over the Col du Tourmalet.