The mountains are here, and bing, bang, boom, the Tour de France just got tasty. To borrow Tadej Pogačar’s comments in the latest series of Netflix's Unchained, Visma-Lease a Bike are here to “f*** things up.”
Beaten and wounded 12 months ago, the team of Jonas Vingegaard promised at the start of the race that they had devised a cunning plan to snatch yellow off Pogačar, the architects of that day on the Col du Granon in 2022 teasing that they’d been drawing more elaborate plans on a white canvas to isolate, expose and ultimately beat the world champion.
If some of their tactics in the opening week were odd and questionable, there was nothing strange or perplexing about their strategy on stage 10 in the Massif Central. It was only near-perfect execution.
Simon Yates, the recent winner of the Giro d’Italia after capitalising on confusing UAE Team Emirates-XRG tactics in that race’s penultimate day, took the stage victory from the breakaway in Le Mont-Dore, and behind, Vingegaard nullified Pogačar’s late attack to ensure that they crossed the line together. Pogačar also ceded yellow to Ben Healy, one of Yates’s breakaway companions.
But that’s only the brief summary; there was so much more. Visma had two riders in the breakaway – Yates, and the nose-stripped viral vlogger Victor Campenaerts – ostensibly to act as satellite riders in the event of a GC showdown.
Behind, Visma's Matteo Jorgenson – fifth in GC, and an all important extra card to play that UAE do not possess – attacked not once but twice, and Vingegaard was supported deep into the stage by five other colleagues.
What Pogačar’s UAE? They had no one in the break, and they their leader alone at crucial moments. The world champion still holds an advantage of a minute to Remco Evenepoel and 1:17 to Vingegaard, but the latter has seven fit teammates hooked on a drip of chaos.
To compound matters for the defending champion, Pogačar – who, uncharacteristically, is becoming increasingly agitated by Visma’s approach – has lost his main climbing domestique, João Almeida, while Pavel Sivakov appears to be ill. It’s smelling a little bit like 2022 all over again.
Visma are realistic about the work they still have to do, but they are buoyant and beaming, conscious that they're the team with the greater number of options. “I learned today we had a strong team and that my legs are good,” Vingegaard concluded. The Dane's a man of few words, but you can’t say he’s lying. “I'm super happy with how it went today,” he continued, “with Simon winning and also my own legs.
“I am still behind, I have to take time back at some point, but today and so far in this Tour de France I have been able to follow all of his attacks which I couldn’t do in [June’s Critérium du] Dauphiné, so obviously that shows I have a better level now than I did in the Dauphiné.”
Grischa Niermann, the designer of the team’s masterplans, talked up how Visma “isolated Tadej” in the Massif Central, but acknowledged they’ll have to keep at it if they want to shake him. “If he’s the strongest, then you can’t do a lot against him,” Niermann said. “We are of course lagging behind in the GC so somewhere we have to find the moment to attack him.”
A lot of Visma's strategy rests on the shoulders of Jorgenson. He’s their ace card, their second dog in the fight, and the American has been one of his team’s most active, attacking riders. To date, nothing has stuck that has dislodged Pogačar, but they’re ramping up the pressure. “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,” Jorgenson said. “It’s a good, positive end to the first 10 days.”
Sepp Kuss, the climbing chief Visma have relied on in the high mountains in the past six Tours, claimed that his team are “definitely more of the underdogs”, and pointed to the game plans that they’re drawing each and every night. “We have to be a bit more creative than just going as fast as we can up the last climb,” he said. “Every team has their different tactics: some stick more to the book, some not.”
It’s clear Visma are not sticking to the rulebook. They’re here to create chaos. And lots of it. The Tour’s hotting up.
