Jonas Vingegaard, who leads the Tour of France by far, was tested for doping Four times in two days. He said he fully understands the ongoing doping issues because of the sport’s history.
The Tour de France, the most prestigious stage race in road cycling, continues on Thursday with a 185 kilometer flat stage. It is the 18th stage, when there are 21 stages in total. The competition culminates in Paris on Sunday.
Yesterday on the 17th stage, a Dane Jonas Vingegaard already took a decisive lead and secured his second consecutive Tour de France victory. Vingegaard of the Jumbo-Visma team extended his lead to the Slovenian To Tadej Pogacar compared to already 7 minutes and 35 seconds.
The 17th stage was the toughest of this year’s Tour. Pogacar of the UAE Emirates team had a hard time right at the start and lost time to crash.
Sports Director of Jumbo-Visma Griescha Niermann stated that right from the release of the route, the team knew that the 17th stage would be decisive.
– We said it was our day, the day we wanted to turn the Tour upside down. Jonas won the Tour today.
The number one in the 17th stage was finally Austria Felix Gallbut Vingegaard, who crossed the finish line in fourth place, beat his formidable challenger Pogacar by almost six minutes.
The French legend was fined and suspended for one stage
There was another kind of drama at Etap, which is why the commentator who worked for French television Thomas Voeckler and a motorcycle rider Joel Chadry was shelved from Thursday’s stage. In addition, both were fined 520 euros.
Voeckler is a French road cycling legend who competed as a professional from 2001 to 2017 and participated in the Tour de France 12 times.
Among other things, Voeckler won the hill climb competition in the Tour of France in 2012. After his career, he has worked as a coach for the French national cycling team.
However, yesterday’s TV job took an embarrassing turn. Chadry and Voeckler’s motorcycle froze 8.4 kilometers before the finish on the Col de la Loze climb. The climb is the steepest of this year’s Tour de France.
When the motorcycle froze at the steepest point, the race organizers’ car that came behind also had to stop. The place was narrow and there was a lot of people around it.
The result was chaos, even though Vingegaard, for example, was able to pass the “roadblock” quickly. For example, a Frenchman ranked 12th overall Thibaut Pinot stuck for much longer.
– It was definitely crazy, there were a lot of people there. At some point I had to stand still because of the car. It was unfortunate, but this can happen when you finish with a 20 percent climb, Tour director Vingegaard updated.
– Motorcycles stopped us. They almost fell on us, Pinot criticized.
According to Cycling News, this was the second time at this year’s Tour de France that a motorcycle duo has been fined and banned. On stage 14, the stalling of the motorcycle interfered with Pogacar’s breakaway.
Vingegaard on continuous doping questions: “I completely understand”
Due to the dominance of the Tour de France, Vingegaar and Pogacar have had to get used to doping issues due to cycling’s dark doping history.
Yesterday, Jumbo-Visma reported that Vingegaard had been subjected to four doping tests in two days. One of them was made just an hour before the start of Wednesday’s 17th stage.
– We are completely ok with that. We have actually asked the International Cycling Federation to act in this way, the team reassured.
Vingegaard himself has commented several times during the Tour that he understands the skepticism.
– To be honest, I completely understand. We have to be skeptical because of the past, otherwise it would happen again, Vingegaard said last Sunday, according to Reuters.
Yesterday, Vingegaard had to answer the same questions again.
– I understand that it’s hard to trust cycling, but I think everything is different from 20 years ago and I can say from the bottom of my heart that I won’t take anything that I wouldn’t give to my daughter. And I wouldn’t give him substances, the Danish star replied.
– I understand people who ask things because of the past. Some people can’t get over it and I understand them completely, said Pogacar, who won the Tour de France in 2020 and 2021.