A Danish party in France. The fourth stage of the Dauphiné had a clear mission: to separate the wheat from the chaff before the road began to look to the sky. “I may take it easy in the early stages. Then I’ll try to get the most out of it against the clock, before heading to the mountains.”Jonas Vingegaard explained before starting the race, unafraid to reveal his plan. For now, there is nothing to fear. Everything is going smoothly, although with guests. The Jumbo leader will set sail for the decisive stages of the French round with an interesting haul of seconds, but no wins or yellow jersey. This Wednesday, in a 31.1-kilometre time trial, he finished second, ahead of specialist Rémi Cavagna, who is still empty this year, but 12 seconds behind his compatriot Mikkel Bjerg (37:28 minutes).who was celebrating his first victory as a professional, accompanied by the overall lead, in tears.
45 seconds to Adam Yates, 1:48 to Carlos Rodríguez, 2:20 to David Gaudu, 2:28 to Enric Mas and Giulio Ciccone, 2:37 to Mikel Landa… In a fight against the clock that is longer than what is customary today (there will be none of such mileage either in the Tour or in La Vuelta), the missions were clear:Vingegaard wanted to do as much damage as possible to his overall opponents and the rest just had to minimize it. The Dane, who was shooting off in his first pedal strokes, tipped the balance in his favor. At the first timed point, he signed the best time; in the second, he was only surpassed by Bjerg and Cavagna. At the finish line, which he reached exhausted, only his compatriot, who was jumping for joy and hugging his team, was able to subtract more time from the clock.