Riis questions van Aert's free role ahead of crucial mountain stages: "Makes no sense to me"

Van Aert was allowed by Visma | Lease a Bike to fight for the stage win and eventually finished fifth in the difficult hilly stage. A nice ride, but Riis is extremely critical. “It's no surprise, but it makes no sense to me,” he said in his analysis for BT. “I don't think you can compete in the Tour de France and say you want to win, and then let your domestiques use their strength in that way.”

The yellow jersey must be the only thing on their minds, something that Trine Vingegaard, Jonas' wife, also suggested. “It jeopardizes the big goal. I have a problem with that, and in my opinion, it's generally wrong. We agree that Wout van Aert is special and can do something very special, but he hasn't yet shown that in this Tour. He's not as strong as he was a few years ago.”

Another striking moment was Vingegaard's attack halfway through the race. The Dane tried to capitalize on a moment and sneak away. Riis saw that “UAE was snoozing, but he is less enthusiastic about the Danish leader's breakaway on the final climb. “I think it was a bit of a poor attack. I don't really understand why he did it, whether it was because he felt obliged to. Personally, I think it's stupid to attack there, 20 meters from the top. Just stay calm, Jonas. It seemed rather pointless to me.”

Tadej Pogacar crashed in the final phase, and his opponents decided to wait. That was the right choice, according to the 1996 Tour winner. “If they had raced to win, it would have been a completely different problem for Pogacar. They would have kept going, and I think that would have been entirely justified. Then it would have just been bad luck for Pogacar.”

The world champion lost no time, and if he is not suffering from his crash, he will “simply” be the best, Riis believes, even in Thursday's twelfth stage. "And I'm sorry, Denmark. If he isn't affected by his crash, I fear this is what will happen. Nevertheless, the situation is now such that Jonas has no choice but to try. There is no way back. Today is the day you have to convince me."

Vingegaard already managed to drop Pogacar on the Hautacam, the final climb of the day, in 2022. His compatriot does not see that happening again this time. Staying close to his rival is already impressive enough. “If Jonas can follow Pogacar to the top of Hautacam, he has a chance to win the Tour. If he fails—and I think it will be difficult—then it looks very difficult.”