“I think it was a strange thing to do. I do understand that the other stars also want their chance, but they could have joined the breakaway instead — and in fact, they were attacking up the road themselves,” Andresen recalls to Eurosport’s Radio Tour, with his confusion matched by frustration from Pogacar.
When the Slovenian had crashed a few days earlier, Vingegaard had classily helped slow the GC group to wait for Pogacar, ensuring the race wouldn’t be decided by such an incident. Looking to try and repay the favour, Pogacar was met by opposition in his attempts to slow the pace by Vingegaard’s own teammates.
“Tadej was trying to slow things down because there had been a crash. He was fuming, and at first, he only chased down Visma riders,” recalls Andresen, with the Dane surprised at the reaction of Visma riders, noting how his Picnic PostNL team were all in to support Oscar Onley. “It’s odd. Before every stage, we’re given our roles. On that day, five of us were assigned to support Oscar, so if there’s a crash, we’re there.”
“Every time he stops to take a leak, three of us pull over with him. These are the sorts of things you agree on beforehand. So I don’t know how their roles are divided, but I do find it strange — especially when you have a genuine shot at winning the Tour de France,” he adds in conclusion.