Jonas Vingegaard Gravel: Unnecessary Risk In Tour de France 2024

Jonas Vingegaard says that he would not put gravel or cobbles in grand tours. We hear from him ahead of 2024 Tour de France stage 9 in Troyes, as well as Derek Gee, Tom Pidcock, and Sean Quinn. #TDF

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Derek you look forward to this day yeah it’s going to be fun I think uh I mean it’ll be chaos and no idea how it’s going to go but something special you think uh the organization is uh toying playing with disaster here ah I mean it’s part of bike racing no their roads free game um yeah I mean obviously you don’t want anyone to have terrible luck but it makes makes for good racing makes for exciting one in general do you like training riding on gravel also do you like watching it and if you’re not racing like strata bian or or racing those stages in the G to tell you do you like watching those stages I mean almost every time I think they’re some of the best uh best stages to watch and from a training perspective I I like it but only you know a little less traffic a little more uh a little more fun less boring than just riding the road all the time so I like to mix it up what is the game plan today for team Israel for you Derek G we just race it full gas um you know if there’s a there’s a break that uh gets big enough we’re going to try and be represented and if not we just try and race from the front and hope uh hope we come out of it with a good result love it thank you man thanks well I guess we know you mean business Matthew when you’re wearing white shorts it’s nice weather and uh with the white roads today uh he will get some nice pictures are this is this the stage that you’ve been aiming at I mean uh yesterday uh we saw you not up there doing the lead out maybe saving a little bit of energy for today this is a big one yeah um no I was I wanted to do the lead out yesterday but my legs were not that great uh at the end so uh I um I Tred to just stay out of trouble and I think today with the team we have we uh we hope to do a good race yes and what’s your advice to the GC Riders if they want to survive this one I think uh yeah everybody knows you have to be in front but it’s always the case and I will be yeah super nervous but I don’t know the the gravel roads over here I never done them so it will also be a surprise for me is there a risk that guys might Focus too much on the gravel today with the equipment and and go for the very thick tires very low pressure and then you lose on the on the TAC um the thing is also if you see the average speed we do in in Ru with these tires it’s not that it’s super slow but if everybody everyone is doing the same then uh it doesn’t really matter but for sure I think yeah for us or if I was a GC container I would uh for sure put on the equipment to have the less risk of a flat tire on the grel section it’s um yeah just to uh all the guys that was there to see it they they told me of course how all the gravel sections are and yeah also gisha uh went out this morning to see the the gravel sections again and yeah they told me uh they tried to to tell me as much as possible I’ve done a few races in the past it’s it’s quite some years ago but uh I have I have done some races um but yeah uh one time I was second in the gravel race so I have was it herning or h no no it was in vibor um behind ASR Casper ESR in the UCI race but um yeah it’s uh I also have bad memories from gravel racing so yeah I have a bit of both if you were designing a grand tour would you sprinkle on a little bit of gravel or is the organization gone too far here I wouldn’t take gravel in as also the same with couples I think it’s an unnecessary risk to take it’s too much for Grand Tour Riders it it belongs in one day races yeah I mean it’s it’s just um yeah how do you say um more for a while Bard no I mean when you do Strata Bianca you know what the terms are you know that it’s gravel race you know how it is but like you go to the T front and there’s like there’s such a big risk that one of the guys in GC has has or many of the guys in GC has bad luck and then by that you lose your GC and it’s in some kind of way it’s an unnecessary risk in my opinion than you well Tom we’ve been speaking to various people this morning about whether gravel stage is belong in grand Tours I think I know what your answer is going to be but just give us that answer yeah I don’t know if who asked me before the race but um I think it does you know it it’s you know winner of grand tour is kind of the most all around rider that’s what I said and yeah I think that they they do it provides a great spectacle for the fans and uh a challenge for the teams which you know keeps everyone on their toes and I think you know it keeps you know out the mundane I guess would you say that even to a a GC Rider who today you know they might lose all of their chances because of a puncture and because their car’s in the wrong place yeah I mean of course there’s that there’s that there’s that side and and I haven’t been on the on the wrong side of that so you know maybe I would have a different opinion if that happened but you know I think it’s um yeah you got to kind of look after your bike and and be as well prepared as possible and and I think yeah there’s always always risks you know if your team doesn’t keep you in the front on a Sprint stage and you crash out the tour it’s same thing you’re a former winner of s ban of course people are comparing this stage to that looking around it doesn’t look like the same kind of terrain but nothing like s banki apart from its gravel what’s the what are the differences it’s flat I mean okay the middle part is got a few climbs in this is where the race might open up maybe so but um yeah the final is is flat and to be honest he you know it could even you know become like a Sprint stage and um you know teams pulling about the break at the end for a Sprint for the sprinters so we’ll have to see but um all the stages kind of played out in different ways like yesterday you know big uh big Breakaway day and and there was you know all the Sprint streams were so strong to control it that um yeah there was no Breakaway really let’s talk about the positives I mean I think the fans are going to be treated to a great day of racing and the organizers are embracing uh trends that everybody seems to love yeah exactly I think um you know gravel on its own in its own discipline is certainly massive growing discipline in our Sport and I think yeah for the fans there’s already more people here than um I’ve seen since the granded pass so yeah for sure it’s going to be a big day I know people yeah love this sort of stuff racing on gravel through Vineyards what’s to complain about yeah yeah exactly we W have time much to look at the views but yeah thanks Sean are you looking forward to some gravel racing today yeah it should be interesting might might be uh happier when it’s out of the way but uh it’s actually a really good opportunity for our team so we’re excited hopefully uh get after that stage one today who Alberto betti yourself Palace everyone like yesterday yeah I think uh hopefully we execute better than yesterday but um yeah I think we have to play multiple cards we don’t really have one guy who we can just rely on wholeheartedly obviously Alberto is probably our best bet on the gravel but um we all have to kind of try today so does gravel belong in grand Tours um maybe in the right circumstance um I don’t know part of part of me thinks that they just throw it into create chaos and uh crashes and stuff for the spectators but um I’ve seen yeah some cool Strate bian stages in the jro before so seen today yeah I don’t know ask me after today but but as a rider I don’t think uh especially if you’re a GC guy it’s probably something you’re not looking forward to but it does make their race exciting for the fans yeah for the GC Riders more than a big stage it seems like a big risk yeah yeah I mean I don’t know why they don’t just throw in another Alpine Mountain Stage instead but I guess they gotta change it up keep everyone on their toes so any special setups today oh uh yeah we’re running 30 mm tires so hopefully that helps but uh I don’t know I’ve heard uh from some guys who have ridden it that it’s not very Tire friendly so do you have uh as a team recruited an extra staff extra helpers to have out wheels at the end of each sector like we see in a per Bay or St bian yeah I think I think we have uh someone on every sector with wheels so yeah hopefully don’t need to use them but we’ll see strong good luck today thank you have a good to Str bianc and Unbound and other events you’ve done I think it’s quite similar to Str bian less ulating less climbing not uh nothing like Unbound or uh or real grael races uh it’s still a road race but positioning is going to be the most crucial part of it uh whoever is in the Breakaway will probably be able to contest the stage win because I don’t see that coming back and the pelaton will still have to yeah tackle all the obstacles the GC teams are going to make sure their leaders enter in front position and that’s going to be a big big fight each and every time and then whoever gets is more efficient and starts the sectors in front will be better off towards the Finish you’ve become sort of famous for your technical adaptations in races the dro a seat post of course in Sano um I’m sure there’s something funky going on with your bike today tell us what’s what’s unusual about your setup today the unusual it it’s completely usual uh it’s the same bike as always now with the modern bikes uh we are lucky to be able to use white tires and uh yeah aof frames at the same time so uh I think this is the fastest possible setup for today is gravel too much to have in grand Tours is the organizer taking a big risk of losing one of the top GC Riders puncture crash uh it’s it’s not up to me to decide that the organizers decided that it’s a that it’s a thing they want to do uh I think today’s stage is going to be one of the most uh viewed ones so uh I can see their point of view I can also understand the frustration from some of the GC uh Riders who are maybe not so comfortable on a more technical terrain they’ve worked hard for months in advance but uh yeah at the end of the day it’s also a part of the race we we knew it from uh well in advance so uh we could we had time to to prepare for it t is really good over the gravel we saw that Strate bian do you think this could be as important as an Alpine or pyan stage I don’t see it being uh the most important stage but today is for sure uh for me one of the best Riders on it I think uh he is also from the technical technical point of view and how he rides his bike one of the most capable Riders of the pelum and he proved this by winning of Landers so I think he’s probably if he went for a stage he would be the number one favorite for me