Relief at Visma | Lease a Bike after Tour de France ‘rest day in all but name’: ‘That’s exactly what we did’

After the first genuine mountain test of this year’s Tour de France on Thursday, the general classification contenders were able to ease off slightly on Friday. One day after the demanding Tourmalet stage, the sprinters took centre stage in Bordeaux. That gave Visma | Lease a Bike an opportunity to focus on recovery, and the Dutch team was satisfied with how the day unfolded.

The first major showdown between the Tour’s overall contenders produced fireworks immediately on stage 6. Tadej Pogačar delivered the kind of performance many had expected, distancing every one of his rivals on the Col du Tourmalet. Jonas Vingegaard emerged as the second-strongest rider on the final climb, but the gap was substantial enough to leave the Dane visibly disappointed afterward.

It was therefore welcome news for Vingegaard and Visma | Lease a Bike that Friday’s stage 7 featured an almost entirely flat route from Hagetmau to Bordeaux. Two riders embarked on what always appeared to be an unlikely mission to hold off the peloton. They were eventually caught before Tim Merlier powered to a dominant sprint victory. Visma, meanwhile, had very different priorities.

For the Dutch squad, the stage became a rest day in all but name. Seven of the team’s eight riders finished in the peloton, while Bruno Armirail crossed the line shortly afterwards. Avoiding incidents and conserving as much energy as possible were the main objectives after several demanding days. “After a number of demanding stages, it was nice that the guys were able to conserve their energy today,” sports director Marc Reef said afterwards on the team’s website.

Reef noted that there was little enthusiasm anywhere in the peloton to make the stage unnecessarily difficult. The previous stages had clearly taken their toll, meaning most teams were happy to let the sprinters control proceedings while their GC riders stayed protected. For Visma | Lease a Bike, the assignment was therefore simple: keep everyone safe and avoid spending energy that could prove important later in the race. Referring to that objective, Reef concluded: “And that’s exactly what we did.”