Visma-Lease a Bike have come in for criticism following stage 12 of the Tour de France, with Soudal-QuickStep riders Ilan Van Wilder and Remco Evenepoel questioning their tactics during the race to Hautacam on Thursday.
The Dutch team had sought to control large portions of the stage, leading the peloton for team leader Jonas Vingegaard with the likes of Sepp Kuss, Matteo Jorgenson, and Simon Yates.
In the end, the tactic didn't pay off, with Vingegaard's lieutenants struggling at various points and dropping before UAE Team Emirates-XRG took control on Hautacam to launch Tadej Pogačar's stage-winning attack.
Ilan Van Wilder, who is Evenepoel's main climbing domestique this Tour, said after the stage that it would be impossible for Visma to keep up their style of racing throughout the rest of the race.
"A lot of riders blew themselves up trying to match Visma-Lease a Bike's pace, and Visma themselves too," the Belgian told Het Nieuwsblad.
"You can't keep the way they race up all the way to Paris. I'm sorry to break it to you, but those guys smelled blood because Tadej crashed. They pulled out all the stops, and they got caught cold."
It remains to be seen how Visma will adjust their plans during the remainder of the race, with four mountain stages left to run. However, they will need something very special to dislodge Pogačar from the top of the standings.
The world champion now holds the Tour lead with a margin of 3:31 over Vingegaard following his devastating attack on the race's first summit finish. The Dane being unable to match Pogačar one-on-one up Hautacam suggests that any adjustment in tactics among the rest of his team will have little effect come the final of a tough mountain stage.
Soudal-QuickStep leader Evenepoel, who struggled during the stage after dropping 54km from the finish before rallying to defend his third place overall, agreed with Van Wilder that the tactical plan of certain teams was wrong-headed.
Teams including Uno-X Mobility and EF Education-EasyPost – racing with then-race leader Ben Healy – also worked on the front for portions of the stage, with Geraint Thomas wondering why they bothered on his Geraint Thomas Cycling Club Podcast.
"Some teams rode today as if they were there to support Pogačar and UAE Team Emirates-XRG," Evenepoel said to WielerFlits.
"That's not the right way to go about things. The mentality has to change, especially now that the yellow jersey is already so far ahead.
"Tadej was head and shoulders above everyone else. There are still 10 days to go, but he has taken a big step towards winning the Tour."
For his part, Evenepoel is looking forward to Friday's mountain time trial to Peyragudes. He told Het Nieuwsblad that "switching the switch" from a tough day out on Hautacam to his favourite discipline won't be a big challenge.
"Of course, I hope to ride faster than I did on the stage to Hautacam," he said. "Switching that switch won't be too difficult. I'm starting quite late, so I have some time to recover. We'll make the most of it."
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