Wiggins and Bruyneel are surprisingly critical of the 'new' Vingegaard: "He doesn’t have the confidence to sit back"

Wiggins, the 2012 Tour winner, joined up with Armstrong and his former team director Bruyneel in this Tour de France, to analyze every stage. They were particularly impressed by the dominance of Alpecin-Deceuninck, giving special praise to Mathieu van der Poel, who worked for winner and yellow jersey holder Jasper Philipsen. “They really have their act together. It’s not easy to get a superstar like Van der Poel to fully buy into the cohesion and camaraderie of a team, but you can see that Mathieu is genuinely very happy when someone else wins,” said Bruyneel.

A notable absentee from the front group was Wout van Aert. He missed the split and finished in the same group as Evenepoel. “Where was Van Aert today?” Wiggins wondered. Bruyneel thinks last week’s stomach flu is still affecting him. “He was really sick because you don’t skip the Belgian Championships lightly. That’s an obligation in Belgium. So that definitely played a role, but I also think he still has a lot of stress during races. He’s crashed hard a few times. I don’t think we’ll see him contesting bunch sprints anymore.”

Besides the battle for the stage win, there was already an unexpected battle for the general classification. The teams of Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard were at the front of the peloton all day due to the chaotic stage – an image that well be burned into TV screens in the coming weeks. Bruyneel sees great sharpness in both teams. “Visma was very solid around Jonas. He looked very focused, stayed at the front, and had a strong team. Affini was incredible, but UAE was also well positioned.” Wiggins added: “Tadej is so confident. In these kinds of conditions, he’s on another level compared to Jonas.”

That Vingegaard himself initiated the decisive echelon split and even went for a small sprint for the mountain points didn’t exactly receive approval. Wiggins said: “It seems like Jonas is too cautious and too nervous. He uses too much energy and didn’t use his team. He doesn’t have the confidence to sit back. I think Jonas, although he’s also a great leader, could also call his team back a bit more. It’s still three long weeks.” Bruyneel added: “It’s very rare for him to take the initiative. He must have good legs, but sometimes it’s better to hide yourself.”

In Belgium, there was no criticism but rather praise for the way Visma | Lease a Bike and Vingegaard raced. “You can ride defensively, but you can also choose to attack and put the rest on the back foot,” said Sep Vanmarcke on Sporza. “If you studied the route well, you could see there was an opportunity there. They took full advantage of it.” Marc Sergeant wrote in Het Nieuwsblad: “It’s clear: Pogacar has a challenger, it’s not going to be a boring Tour. We’ve never really seen Vingegaard ride like this before.”

Allan Peiper, former team director of Pogacar, also warned his former pupil about Vingegaard while speaking as a guest on De Avondetappe. “Tadej’s weak point is overconfidence, and that always worries me a bit. He and his team can sometimes waste too much energy; we saw that two and three years ago in the Tour. You need your team in the final week, and something tells me Vingegaard is waiting and preparing something. He still has a full tank – how much does Tadej have left? How much you have in the last week, that is what matters. There’s a battle of titans coming.”