Visma | Lease a Bike happy with Vingegaard, looking for Pogacar’s weaknesses, and explains Van Aert: "Then you just have to let him go"

Before the stage, the plan was to ride for Wout van Aert, Vingegaard revealed afterwards. “We wanted to go for Wout, but he didn’t have the legs to make an impact. Then we decided to switch focus and ride for me and Matteo Jorgenson. In the end, it was a pretty good day, even though we would have loved to win with Wout. Knowing he wasn’t there, this was the maximum we could do."

Sporting director Grischa Niermann provided more context at the team bus about Van Aert getting dropped, even though he had taken the lead at the start of the first climb. “Wout was sick last week and couldn’t ride the Belgian Championship because of it. He just didn’t have enough in the tank today and couldn’t keep up, so then you just have to let him go. He’s not in top shape right now, and in a tough finale where only twenty riders remain, it can happen that you’re not there.”

Niermann thinks Van Aert will recover within a few days. “I’m not worried about Wout. He will show himself again and even today he helped us a lot. It’s just a pity he couldn’t contest the stage win.”

After Van Aert had been dropped, it was up to Vingegaard and Jorgenson, who both fought hard in the explosive finale into Boulogne-sur-Mer. “For Jonas, third place behind Tadej and Mathieu was the best possible result. He looked really strong all day. Matteo Jorgenson was also good in the finale.”

The fact that Vingegaard, after the Dauphiné, can now also make an impact on such an explosive finish in the Tour de France makes Niermann happy. “Jonas himself said that he wasn’t really himself last year. He’s had a good preparation this time. Does that guarantee anything? No. But right now, we’re happy with where we are.”

And that is third place, behind Mathieu van der Poel and, of course, eternal rival Pogacar. “I don’t see any weaknesses in Pogacar at all. He’s always strong and competes for wins throughout the year, whether it’s in the Tour of Flanders or the Tour de France. If his team isn’t there, he handles things himself. And I have to say, his team was impressively strong today. They had four riders in the front group.”

At Visma | Lease a Bike, they also noticed that Giro winner Simon Yates was improving, rounding out their assessment of day two. “He was already much better than on the first stage, where he had a really bad day. He’s not the best in hectic stages, and we knew that beforehand, but his time will come, just like for Sepp Kuss, when we hit the mountains. Then the first ten days will soon be forgotten.”