More drama between Visma | LaB and UAE in the break? "We shot ourselves in the foot"

Wellens and Jorgenson were on each other's wheels for almost the entire day. Even when the leading group split up, the two riders stayed close together. However, the American does not speak of a rivalry: he simply could not do any better. “It already took a lot of effort just to get into the break,” he explained on the team's website. “I could feel I had burned quite a bit of energy there.”

The gap with the leaders increased to about a minute, but in the final, Wellens and Jorgenson managed to pick up speed. “I tried one more time to get clear from the group, but it just wasn’t happening today. Of course, that’s disappointing, but I think the race told an honest story,” concluded Jonas Vingegaard's domestique, who finished ninth in Pontarlier.

Wellens finished one place ahead of the rider from the rival team. Last year, Nils Politt confirmed that his team worked with a blacklist of riders who were not allowed to win under any circumstances. It was suggested that Jorgenson was at the top of that list. “I knew this would happen when we got dropped,” Belgian champion Wellens laughed to Sporza after the finish.

“No, Matteo and I were a bit à bloc,” he denies that his focus was on the American. “Matteo had attacked and pushed me to the limit. Then the rest rode away, and we were left together. We made a good comeback, also because of that crash, but everyone finishes here where they deserve to be. No, there was no disagreement.”

In other words, no problems in stage 20 between Visma | Lease a Bike and UAE Team Emirates - XRG. “The main problem was that we had pushed so hard together at the start that we ended up shooting ourselves in the foot. It was just super tough.” One more stage for Wellens, who is excellent on cobbled climbs. But the stage over Montmartre is not for him. “I'll be looking to my teammates, Pogacar and Narvaez.”