The Spaniard believes the Dutch squad is banking on the idea that if the race is tough enough, Jonas Vingegaard will reach the latter stages of the Tour in better condition than Tadej Pogacar.Reflecting on the stage, Contador explained that UAE were initially very selective about who they allowed into the breakaway — particularly not letting Wout van Aert go — until Mathieu van der Poel managed to sneak in, something Visma clearly weren’t happy about: “Once Van der Poel got into the break, UAE’s attitude completely changed — they allowed it. But Visma didn’t like the look of that situation at all.”
The Dutch team made their displeasure clear: “Jorgenson, who’s well-placed in the general classification, took it upon himself to ramp things up again, which prompted an immediate response from Pogacar.”
Visma were determined to keep the race alive. First, Jorgenson surged ahead after noticing the pace had dropped and the break was gaining time. Then they sent forward Tiesj Benoot, followed by Simon Yates. Realising they couldn’t reel in the escapees — who were just 15 seconds up the road at the time — Visma eventually gave Yates the green light to bridge across, hoping to keep their chances of a stage win alive. That, according to Contador, was effectively their Plan B.
In Contador’s view, Visma succeeded in their goal of draining UAE’s energy reserves: “They did a brilliant job, especially on the final climb, creating a massive amount of fatigue. It was an absolutely brutal stage — the kind where riders reach the finish and say, ‘Blimey, what a day.’ And all this without any proper high mountain passes.”
He concluded by assessing the long-term implications of Visma’s approach, and looked ahead to Stage 7: “Visma are sticking to their strategy of trying to wear UAE down as much as possible — although they’re using up a lot of energy themselves in the process. Whether that pays off by the end of the Tour remains to be seen. But they believe it will — they think Vingegaard has greater endurance. And funnily enough, they nearly ended up keeping yellow by accident. It’s very likely that Pogacar will be back in yellow today on the Mûr de Bretagne.”