UAE calls it "a good day for van der Poel and for us," but Pogacar puzzled by aggressive Visma | Lease a Bike tactics

“At the end, Visma wanted... Yes, I don't know what they were trying to do,” said a somewhat perplexed Pogacar after the finish. “They went fast, so we just followed. The start and the first two hours were very, very tough. Really unbelievably fast. We survived those two hours well and then we decided whether or not to go for the stage win. We decided not to waste our energy and rode at our own pace. Nils, Marc, and the rest of the team did their job. Then Visma came.”

The Killer Bees set a grueling pace in the final kilometers. “They went full throttle on the last two climbs. Perhaps they had information that van der Poel was losing time at the front and was struggling. Maybe Visma wanted to give me the yellow jersey today. But in the end, Mathieu won by one second, so hats off to him.”

Van der Poel crossed the finish line completely exhausted, coming in last of the breakaway riders in Vire Normandie. The former world champion suddenly saw the peloton closing in fast, but in the end, he had just enough left to keep the yellow jersey. “It was a super performance from him today. The early breakaway did very well at the front today. All credit to them.” Ben Healy was by far the strongest in the stage with over 3500 meters of climbing.

Pogi can ride in the world champion's jersey for at least another day: in addition to the yellow jersey, he also lost the polka dot jersey (to Tim Wellens) and the green jersey (to Jonathan Milan). "I don't mind having the yellow jersey. But as I said, the goal today was to use as little energy as possible. Tomorrow is another good finish for me. After that, we'll need our legs for the second and third weeks. What we did today was very good." The Mûr-de-Bretagne awaits on Friday, where the Slovenian will be the top favorite. If he wins, he will definitely take back the yellow jersey.

Josean ‘Matxín’ Fernández, team director of UAE Team Emirates - XRG, explained after the finish why they ultimately let Van der Poel ride. "Defending the yellow jersey depended on the race," the Spaniard told ESCiclismo. "If we saw that it was going to be difficult, we would control the race because the Tour is still long. The breakaway formed, and the best-placed rider was van der Poel. A great rider but not a threat to the GC."

So Pogacar's team let the breakaway ride in the final, and the gap to lone breakaway rider Healy even reached 7 minutes at one point. Thanks to Visma | Lease a Bike, that gap was reduced again. “If you have no chance of controlling the breakaway group and you don't see any danger, you relax. It was a tough day, and we tried to save energy. It was good for Van der Poel and for us.”