Bruyneel and Wiggins criticize Visma's tactics, but see opportunities ahead: "That's great for the team"

In the podcast THEMOVE, Wiggins discusses the seventh stage with Bruyneel. He thought Visma | Lease a Bike rode like a headless chicken. “I'm not sure what their tactics are at the moment. You might know better,” says Wiggins. “If they ride at the front like that with Campenaerts, Benoot, and Jorgenson, UAE will catch up, and they'll go even faster. We saw it with Wellens.”

The Belgian accelerated incredibly on the initial slopes of the final climb. It looked like it was going perfectly for Pogacar, but the plan got a bit disrupted. “What obstructed them was the crash of João Almeida. At that point, they didn't know how he was doing or whether he was back on his bike. Normally, he would have taken the lead after Wellens. Tadej didn't know what to do for a moment. But he waited very calmly.”

Bruyneel also didn't understand the race tactics of the Killer Bees. They pushed hard and thinned out the peloton to about 40 riders. Afterward, people said that a tough race would be to Vingegaard's advantage, but the Belgian former sports director didn't understand it. “Making the race hard is one thing, but aren't you helping Pogacar? The harder the race, the better it is for Tadej, and he doesn't even have to use all his teammates. By doing the work for UAE, you're not going to exhaust them.”

Wiggins adds his view. The former Tour winner thinks that the strength of the Dutch team will be crucial later in the Tour. “Why during these stages, what do they have to gain here? All this will be irrelevant after Monday. That will be the first real day in the Tour de France. That's when we'll see what both teams are worth. If you want to make it difficult, that's where you have to do it.” Monday is not a rest day, but a tough ride in the middle mountains with 4,300 meters of climbing to Puy-de-Sancy.

On the Mur de Bretagne, Mathieu van der Poel lost the yellow jersey, as expected. The Dutchman couldn't keep up with the climbers, but Bruyneel saw it coming. “He must have known how he felt this morning. We saw the most normal scenario for Van der Poel: he hasn't recovered. He went really deep and was completely empty. When you walk from your room to the breakfast table, you already know.”

It was to be expected that Pogacar would be in the yellow jersey after the tough first week. But his team has suffered considerable damage: João Almeida crashed hard in the final kilometers and crossed the finish line 10 minutes behind. The Portuguese rider sustained a bruised rib. Bruyneel believes that when people crash, they crash hard. According to him, there is a reason for this. “Nowadays, they go so fast in every stage that everyone at the back—except Almeida, because his positioning is just not good—is pushing themselves to the limit. That's how cycling has changed: it's full throttle from the start. The days of a quiet start and jokes in the first 100 kilometers are over.”

With their last lieutenant in a questionable state, UAE Team Emirates-XRG will have to adjust their plans. “They now need to think wisely about how they are going to defend the race in two weeks,” Wiggins analyzes. “They need to be efficient. Visma is in a good position. They have a large number of riders, which they haven't utilized very wisely. But Jorgenson is fifth, and that's great for the team.”