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Zeeman watched on as Vingegaard recorded the largest winning margin seen at the Dauphine in 36 years after finishing 2’23” ahead of Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates).
It was the perfect week at the Tour’s traditional warm-up race, one Jumbo-Visma led for seven out of eight stages and even had Christophe Laporte prosper in the points classification.
For Vingegaard, though, it was a chance to test himself ahead of his highly anticipated rematch with Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) at the Tour – a match-up Zeeman was equally aware of.
“It’s true, this win sends a sort of message,” Zeeman told L’Equipe. “There was a very strong field here, but everybody knows that Pogacar is at another level.
“I would have been more worried if Jonas hadn’t been able to beat his rivals here because that would have meant he wouldn’t have been able to beat Pogacar.
“These two guys [Pogacar and Vingegaard] are so strong that they seem like they’re on another level, as we’ve seen this week.”
Vingegaard was full of praise for his teammates following his overall victory, his first at the famous race and a significant part of his preparation for the three-week stage race to come.
Tiesj Benoot was one rider Vingegaard singled out, and the Dane will also have strong climbers like Sepp Kuss, Wilco Kelderman and Wout van Aert in his corner next month.
“It’s very, very important for me to win this race, maybe the biggest week-long stage race there is,” Vingegaard said after the eighth and final stage.
“I’m very, very pleased and proud. Once again, the team has been incredible, really strong. I was never isolated.”
“Winning a Tour gives you a huge confidence boost, but I already believed in myself a lot last year at the same point in the year, and that’s still the case," he added.
Pogacar, meanwhile, has been given the green light to return to the road and continue his own preparations after fracturing his wrist at Liege-Bastogne-Liege in April.
The two-time Tour champion will now link up with UAE Team Emirates to recon some key stages in Sestriere before returning home to race at the Slovenian National Championships.
