Michael Boogerd offers two suggestions to Visma | Lease a Bike after Tour de France

“Visma-Lease a Bike deserves high praise because they raced to the best of their ability. Vingegaard finished second in the GC, Simon Yates won a stage, but above all, Van Aert's sensational victory in Paris was outstanding."

“The latter was unfortunately unable to deliver for Vingegaard during this Tour, contrary to what he and the team had expected. The fact that he still showed such resilience is typical of Van Aert. He is someone who always keeps fighting,” said Boogerd.

Boogerd saw that Pogacar and UAE had the edge. "Overall, the team gave it their all. However, Visma was not strong enough to win this Tour de France. And some moments should have been handled differently."

"There was little to complain about in Visma’s tactics, especially in the first ten days," the Dutchman continued. “They were the ones who started the echelons in the first stage, immediately showing their intentions. With Vingegaard, Visma had come to win the Tour and went all out from the start. In those difficult first stages with a classic character, Vingegaard was always very strong at the front.”

After that, however, things went “wrong” according to Boogerd. "Visma was not as dominant in the mountain stages as it was in the years 2020 to 2023. At that time, they dominated those kinds of stages, with Tour victories for Vingegaard in 2022 and 2023, but now they lacked the tools to do so. The level of these eight riders was lower across the board. Still, I think Visma entertained the fans during this Tour and earned a lot of respect with their aggressive racing style."

Ultimately, Vingegaard was unable to pose a significant threat to Pogacar. Boogerd offers two suggestions to the Dutch team that they could implement next year. "Perhaps it would be wise for Vingegaard to ride more one-day races in the future. Instead of focusing solely on the Tour, with other stage races as preparation."

In classics, there is a different way of racing, and you experience what it's like to ride tough finals, which also gives you a certain toughness. You can see that Pogacar benefits enormously from this,‘ explains the man from The Hague. “Of course, not every rider is the same, and I don't know if it will help Vingegaard, but you can always try. You have to keep all options open and change tactics if something isn't achieving the desired result.”

“It might also be useful to have a sports director in the car who has experience competing in finals for the win. Visma doesn't really have anyone like that,” says Boogerd. Grischa Niermann is currently Head of Racing for the team. "Yes, Frans Maassen, but I wonder how much influence he has on the progress of the race. Someone who has had that experience can convey it more effectively to the riders. Look at it this way: if you’ve never ridden in the Tour de France, you can’t explain to anyone what it’s like."

“That's not to criticize these sports directors, but if you want to improve, you could consider giving the team an extra boost in quality,” Boogerd emphasizes. “Every detail can help if you want to win the Tour.”