At the finish of stage 10 at the Tour de France in Le Mont-Dore, Tadej Pogačar told Slovenian journalists that the attacks of Visma-Lease a Bike were “annoying” during the 165.3km hilly, testing stage through the Massif Central. Although subtle, it was the first hint of frustration from the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider, who went on to say that he responded to the jabs of his rivals by “doing a better attack” himself at the end of the stage.
The world champion has a valid point. Try as they might, with their two satellite riders in the breakaway and the hard pace they set on the front of the general classification group, Visma-Lease a Bike could not crack the world champion on Monday. They were rewarded for their efforts with an impressive stage victory for Simon Yates, and they did not concede any time to Pogačar in the general classification, but did they really gain anything? Was the work from Visma worth it today to help Jonas Vingegaard beat Pogačar at the Tour de France? Or are they taking the wrong approach altogether?
“We were attacking to put some pressure on UAE today,” Vingegaard said a few moments after crossing the finish line. “It was a hard day, always up and down, but I’m happy with Simon winning and my own legs.”
What the Danish rider said next is where the problem for his team lies: “I am still behind, I have to take time back at some point.”
For all their tactical masterclasses and aggressive racing style, Pogačar still heads into the first rest day of this Tour with over a minute advantage ahead of Vingegaard. It’s not enough for the 26-year-old rider to be certain he can win the yellow jersey in Paris, but it’s a significant gap that is going to take a lot for Visma to claw back.
"I think we tried our best these first 10 days to find an opportunity, we didn't quite find it, but we'll keep going this way, and thankfully we brought some very good climbers along for the ride,” Vingegaard’s key mountain domestique, Matteo Jorgenson, said after stage 10.
His teammate, Sepp Kuss, sang a similarly positive tune: "I think similar to other years, now we're definitely more the underdogs, so we have to be a bit more creative than just going as fast as we can up the last climb and going from there. I think every team has their different tactics, and some stick more to the book, some not, but in the end, stages like this, you can be a bit more creative,” he said.
"It was amazing that Simon could win the stage, and Victor [Campenaerts] was always there, in case things got really crazy and we could jump across. UAE rode a strong race, and we couldn't crack them just yet, but it was nice to try. You just have to wait for the moment, and you never know when that moment will be.”
When you are going up against a three-time Tour de France winner, a Giro d’Italia winner and the current world champion, it is not easy to find those moments. While Visma are putting time and energy into trying to weaken Pogačar, they are still just limiting their losses – at times, Pogačar has even capitalised on the work they have done by attacking to his own advantage after Visma has exhausted the rest of the peloton. But, as the Dutch team’s sports director Grischa Niermann hinted after Monday’s stage, what other choice do they have?
"Jonas is super strong, the same counts for Tadej, and that was a really big attack again from Tadej [on the final climb],” Niermann said. “Jonas could counter it, and they could finish together. In the end, it was a good day, but we, of course, are lagging behind on GC, so somewhere we have to find the moment to attack him, and that will not be easy because he is just so strong. I think we isolated Tadej, but if he's as strong as today, then there's not any way you can do a lot against him.”
As the sun goes down on the Massif Central, and the likes of Pogačar and Vingegaard – alongside the rest of the peloton – look forward to the first day of rest in this Tour, each team has some serious thinking to do. The Tour de France is a complicated puzzle, and for Visma-Lease a Bike, finding the missing piece is not going to come easily. That piece comes in the shape of a dropped, broken Tadej Pogačar on a mountain – and that isn’t something that we see in this sport very often.
As Kuss stated, they are trying everything – playing Pogačar at his own game by attacking and counter-attacking him, isolating him so he is alone without teammates, putting satellite riders up the road to be ready if Pogačar makes a trademark gung ho move on a climb – but nothing has worked so far. It’s true that Visma-Lease a Bike have looked very good in this Tour, but the defending champion – team support or no team support – still looks better. How do you solve a problem like Tadej Pogačar? We’re glad we’re not the ones creating Visma’s game plan for the next two weeks.
