Visma | Lease a Bike stays focused on themselves, despite Pogacar's crash: "No matter what's going on with him"

However, the Dutch team is not changing its tactics after Pogacar's crash. “No, we have a plan for this stage. Whether he crashed or not, it has no influence,” sports director Marc Reef told NOS. “Regardless of whether he crashed or not, we are sticking to our own plan, no matter what happens to him.”

In the first week of the Tour, Visma | Lease a Bike mainly attacked with two riders: Matteo Jorgenson and Jonas Vingegaard, the two riders who pose a threat to defending champion and favorite for the overall victory, Pogacar. “That's what we've been doing mainly over the past week, trying to keep the pressure high and see where there are opportunities. We'll try to do the same in the coming days.”

Whether that will be possible in the first real mountain stage, with Hautacam as the final climb, remains to be seen. “It's the first real mountain stage, so we'll see where we stand. We might try something, but first we'll see how things are after the start, and then we'll make a plan for the race. In general, it will be useful to have riders up front.”

Pogacar already indicated before the stage that he would be keeping an eye on Visma | Lease a Bike. “There's a good chance they'll want to try something. But we'll see, I have good support from my team,” said the Slovenian world champion, who also indicated how he is doing after his crash.