Zonneveld questions UAE's strategy in gravel stage: "They know Ayuso will leave one day"

Zonneveld and his podcast co-host Hidde van Warmerdam started with the gravel stage on Sunday. Isaac Del Toro was riding for the stage win on Sunday but was beaten by van Aert. The Mexican rider did take the pink jersey, which means that UAE now has four riders in the top 10. According to Zonneveld, it could have been different and perhaps should have been. "Even McNulty finished twelfth in the day's results. He had already crashed and then didn't ride at the front to put Roglic at a disadvantage or bring Bernal back. He rode with a lot of energy in reserve. Otherwise, you don't finish twelfth. It's the same story for Adam Yates. Otherwise, he wouldn't have finished tenth."

Yet, according to Zonneveld, the cycling world saw these developments coming. "Long before the Giro. UAE is by far the richest team in the world at the moment. With Tadej Pogacar, they have the best rider currently available. He has a lot of goals for the year: he's riding all the classics and two Grand Tours, and he also wants to win the World Championships. All year, the big races are all for one man, which makes sense."

That's why the races where Pogacar isn't there cause problems for UAE. "Then the guys who are always there to ride for Pogacar suddenly start knocking on the door because they think: this is my chance. It goes so far that during contract negotiations, it is mentioned that Ayuso has to ride one Grand Tour a year without Pogacar so that he is the lead rider." But Ayuso is not Pogacar, of course, according to Zonneveld. "And he's not as good as him either. Today, he was also quite vulnerable because he had simply been dropped off the final climb. There, he lost seconds to guys like Carapaz and Tiberi."

Zonneveld, therefore, thinks that the rest of the UAE star team feels they have a chance, as the leader does not seem completely untouchable. "Yates, who started as co-leader, feels that too. Del Toro also felt it in the stage that Ayuso won, because he could have won it too. There are all kinds of riders who feel that there are opportunities and that there is not just one clear leader. You can see that now in the general classification, and you can also see it in riders like McNulty and even Vine, who said this week that they can't ride with seven GC contenders on the team."

Zonneveld, therefore, believes that it is UAE's vision that is causing these difficulties. "They want to try to give all these guys a chance and make them feel they can all pursue their own goals." For example, the young Igor Arrieta still rode in the breakaway the day before the gravel stage. "He's allowed to be there and ride for the stage win, while a day later, he has an incredibly important job to do in setting up his lead riders. That says it all because he's one of those guys they said to: come to us because you'll get a lot of money and a chance somewhere. That's just a different approach than other teams."

According to Zonneveld, if it hadn't been UAE on Sunday but another team, the classification would have looked very different. "Then Roglic wouldn't have lost his place in the GC today. Or at least he wouldn't have lost two minutes to Del Toro and only one minute to Ayuso. One minute, mind you. He crashed and got a flat tire, then had to make up for everything with only one man, Pellizarri," said the Dutchman, looking at Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe with some surprise. "They were really nowhere today."

The analyst had already tried to explain it, but the reason behind it seems clear to Zonneveld. "Those guys know that Ayuso is going to leave. Whether it happens soon or in the long run, he will leave. It will only get interesting and precarious for UAE when they have to sacrifice someone. Who's going to lead the pack in week three, for example, when Arrieta, Baroncini, Vine, and Majka are done with leading the pack?" Zonneveld wonders aloud. "They've bet on all horses in the hope that things will turn out okay, which is still possible. They'll be thinking: what's everyone complaining about? Look at the GC."