Jonas Vingegaard’s time trial victory was stunning, massive, extraordinary, amazing, devastating, smashing, shocking and crushing. Yes, it created an adjective crisis in the pro cycling media.
At the beginning of this Tour de France, the competitors were divided into two camps: the normal riders and two aliens who were on an otherworldly level. That was Vingegaard and his rival Tadej Pogacar.
After the 22.4k race against the clock from Passy to Combloux, we have thee groups: normal, regular alien and super freak alien.
How else to explain how Vingegaard was 1:38 faster than a man many consider to be the second coming of Eddy Merckx, the Cannibal. A rider who can win every kind of race on every kind of terrain — unless faced with a guy who used work in a fish factory in Hanstholm, Denmark.
How does Pogacar crush Wout van Aert’s 3rd place time by a minute yet still lose to Vingegaard by such a shocking margin? Has Jumbo-Visma lost interest in their ketones performance beverage and instead invented a time-warping device?
Vingegaard looked faster from the start and was faster. After the first time check he was up 16 seconds, at the second check, 31 seconds and at the finish, over a minute ahead. That’s beyond alien, ultra alien, Alien Plus!
He leaned the bike hard into every corner like a GP motocross rider. He kept a high cadence and was so aero that from the back, you couldn’t see his head. It was scary watching his precise line through every corner, ferocious and without fear.
His speed was so high it seemed to defy his handlebar power unit. “It was one of my best days on the bike ever, so good that at one point I even doubted my power meter was showing so high,” he said. That’s breaking the sound barrier stuff.
After his dominating overall victory in the Criterium du Dauphine, Vingegaard stated he still had room for improvement. Up until this stage of Le Tour, those gains in performance were incremental as the Dane and Pogacar fought for crumbs and seconds.
One minute, thirty-eight seconds isn’t incremental, it’s monumental.
“I think today I even surprised myself with the time trial I did, I didn’t expect to do so well,” said Vingegaard. “But I did my plan perfectly today, and this is my first TT victory in the Tour. So I can be really proud.”
Pogacar will fight until the finish line in Paris. He’s aggressive, mentally strong and massively talented. However, a beating this significant would put a dent in anyone’s self-believe.
When a two-time Tour de France winner loses 1:38 seconds over 22 kilometers, it’s stunning, massive, shocking, extraordinary, devastating, smashing and crushing ….
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