Reef points to smarter UAE, not just Pogačar, in Tour battle against Vingegaard and Visma | Lease a Bike
CyclingThursday, 09 July 2026 at 20:35
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Follow us on GoogleVisma | Lease a Bike has to pick up the pieces and look for a new plan at the Tour de France. Team leader Jonas Vingegaard lost nearly three minutes to an all-powerful Tadej Pogačar on stage 6, and that blow clearly landed. After Marc Reef had already given his first analysis of the stage, IDL Pro Cycling caught up with him at the team bus with one simple question: what happens now?
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We actually ran into Reef almost by chance. The team cars came down from the other side of the final climb, and the Dutch sports director of Visma | Lease a Bike decided to cross over from the car to the team bus. After a long wait near the buses, that gave us four minutes to ask Reef how he felt after a brutal day for the team.
During our walk toward the Visma bus, Reef repeated the words he had already spoken shortly after the finish at the top of the final climb. “I am very disappointed, yes. We had hoped for more and expected more, but I think it was a fairly honest race. Tadej showed a very high level.”
“But Jonas did too,” Reef immediately added. “We are proud that he fought all the way to the line, even though the gap kept getting bigger. Jonas gave everything and battled right to the finish. At that point, there is no more communication involved. He definitely hit his limit, because if he could have gone harder, he would have done so.”
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Jonas Vingegaard dug very deep, but lost nearly three minutes to Pogačar.
Will the balance between Pogačar and Vingegaard stay the same in the Tour de France?
Reef stressed that Vingegaard made the right decision when Pogačar went hard on the Tourmalet with teammate Isaac Del Toro. For a moment, it looked as if UAE Team Emirates-XRG might be about to deliver an unprecedented double blow, but Del Toro could not hold the pace. That allowed Vingegaard to catch and pass the Mexican. “Jonas chose his own tempo very well. That kept him close for a long time.”
“The fact that he eventually had to let Pogačar go says enough,” said Reef, who had already seen his team’s plans disrupted because UAE Team Emirates-XRG did not allow any Visma rider to get up the road and take a place in the breakaway. “We wanted to have support after the Tourmalet, but of course UAE has learned from the past few years. We would have liked that, but it did not work out.”
Against a stronger and more complete UAE squad, and perhaps the best Pogačar we have ever seen, the question now becomes obvious: will Visma | Lease a Bike continue to focus on winning the Tour?
“We have to be realistic, but also combative,” Reef said. “We will process this, and then we are still only on stage 6 of the Tour de France. There is still a lot to fight for, with fifteen stages and several crucial stages still to come.”
“This was one of those stages, and we took a hit. If Pogačar stays at this level, it will be a very big challenge. But it is a challenge we are happy to take on.”
Bram van der PloegEditor-in-chief
Bram van der Ploeg (35) is the proud founder of In de Leiderstrui, IDL Pro Cycling's parent site, launched in 2018. Finally, he could create stories about the sport he had followed since childhood. He is the editor-in-chief on paper, but prefers to be with his recorder next to a rider, a team bus, or in the mud at a cyclocross race. Every year, from February to the end of May, Bram follows the entire Italian cycling season, from the Trofeo Laigueglia to the Giro d'Italia, with the grand finale in October in Lombardy. During that time, he lives in Tuscany, where he has since come to call Italy his 'home'.
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Latest Comments
- - How many times has Pog actually worn yellow now? The article hints he’s lost count—anyone got the exact stat?robert6506-07-2026
- - Unreal start to the Tour: two punches in three days. If he’s taking yellow this early, the real game is load management before the first true summit finish.davidm06-07-2026
- - Grandissimo Tadej! Maillot jaune meritato, squadra perfetta oggi.sprocketspiny06-07-2026
- - Not sure I buy the “nothing really tough” description. 3,850m of climbing in that heat is brutal, even if the gradients aren’t HC. Felt a bit dismissive.cadencekingm06-07-2026
- - Pogacar’s humour about the gels was gold. Also, nice to see him credit Del Toro. That Barcelona gesture coming back today was a proper team arc.michael5406-07-2026
- - Quick question: when they say “break got a free pass” by Visma, does that mean Visma just stopped chasing completely? Or is it more like they eased but still controlled the gap?velodromevirtuoso106-07-2026
- - Sorry, but the piece glosses over how Vermeersch shredded the gap. That was the hinge of the stage. Give him more credit than a single line.raceready706-07-2026
- - Two seconds on a 200m kick says it all. Vingegaard looked glued, but not enough punch yet. Heat management + gels every 30 minutes clearly dialed.andrewf06-07-2026
- - What a statement from Pog! Del Toro’s launch was textbook. You could see UAE-XRG had zero interest in gifting the break any hope today.jennifer1906-07-2026
- - ¿Habrá abanicos con ese viento noroeste? Si se parte el pelotón en los llanos antes de Quillan, adiós a muchos sprinters.patriciaw06-07-2026
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