Tadej Pogačar is bemused at the end of stage six of the Tour de France. He’s just completed a 200km day of racing from Bayeux to Vire Normandie and can’t really work out what his key rivals, Visma-Lease a Bike, were aiming to accomplish during the race. It took the breakaway over 100km to form because the Dutch squad were seemingly unhappy with every combination of riders that were managing to clip off the front of the peloton. They wanted a rider in it from Visma, even trying at a point with Matteo Jorgenson, a move that Pogačar decided to close down himself.
“In the end, Visma tried to… I don’t know what, but they went hard, so we just followed,” the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider shrugged.
Visma went on to limit the time gap to the breakaway throughout the day, riding hard towards the end of the stage on the rolling climbs to the finish line. He added that his rivals were, perhaps, trying to force him to stay in the yellow jersey in order to give UAE the responsibility to control the race as it rolls on. With leading the Tour de France also comes extra ceremony and time at the end of each day, something that accumulates over the course of three weeks.
“At the start, the two hours were super hard, incredibly fast, and we survived for two hours, and then we were deciding if we should go for the stage or not, but then we decided not to spend bullets, and we rode our pace,” Pogačar said.
“Visma came on the last two kickers, just riding all out, and maybe they had info that [Mathieu] van der Poel was suffering in front and losing time, and that maybe Visma wanted to give me the yellow jersey today. But then in the end I think Mathieu had it for one second, so chapeau to him, super ride from him today, and the breakaway they did a really amazing job in the front, all credit to guys in the breakaway.”
Visma’s general classification leader, Jonas Vingegaard, didn’t shed much more light on the aims of his team, simply stating that the pre-race plan was to get a rider in the break. They were considering the stage victory for Wout van Aert, but also were relieved they had no duty to chase since Simon Yates made the eventual move of the day.
“It was not an easy day for sure, was not the hardest day, but it was definitely a very hard start. It eased off a bit once the breakaway got away and again in the final got better,” the Danish rider said after the stage. He also added that he feels an improvement in his form after a disappointing performance in the time trial on Wednesday.
“For sure yesterday was a tough day for me, I was definitely disappointed yesterday as I should be, but today was a new day and I felt a lot better. I am happy with how I was feeling today. Now we focus on tomorrow,” Vingegaard continued.
While subtle, these dynamics between both teams are part of them aiming to take small chinks out of each other’s armour. The Tour de France is a race of endurance, and every little use of energy can make a difference by the time it reaches the conclusion in Paris. Pogačar’s sprint at the end of the stage to ensure he finished ahead of Vingegaard, despite knowing they would still remain on the same time was another power play. It feels like the mind games are starting at the 2025 Tour de France, and the tactical dynamics are as complicated as the 68-metre Bayeux Tapestry for which today’s stage start is famous. We can be sure though, that when the mountains come, the legs will do the talking.
