mididoctors
Über Member
Visma morale is a bit low
Tour de France 2025 (CONTAINS SPOILERS!)
- Thread starter Col1n
- Start date
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Visma morale is a bit low
Milzy
Guru
No wonder when you know there isn’t any tactic to compete with UAE. It’s a fight for 2nd place. Even Lance had off days loaded with EPO & steroids. Poggi won’t even have one bad day or sweat.
Imagine where it would be if Yates hadn't gone for that stage win?
Not looking so silly now!
CarbonClem
Well-Known Member
I was surprised there was so much chat about him taking the stage. It seemed obvious to me they were keen to bag a stage win when they could.
On the other hand, there is still a week to go where something could go very wrong for Pog. Unlikely, but possible.
Race for 3rd spot is where it’s at.
DeadCalm
Active Member
- Location
- The Land of Smiles
That was an impressive ride by Ben Healy, coming in 7th on that stage alongside Roglic and moving back into the top 10.
Mo1959
Legendary Member
- Location
- Perthshire,Scotland
Oscar Onley sounded a bit down in his interview. He seemed to feel he should have been able to stick with the final push. Bodes well for his future if he feels he is so close to being able to go with them.
T4tomo
Legendary Member
Yes I guess when Remco dropped out he would be thinking he was in with a shout of white, but then Lipo doubled his advantage on that stage. He just needs Lipo to have a bad day to get that minute and a half back.
No Ta Doctor
Über Member
Lipo was impressive. He was close to sticking to Pog & Vingegaard's wheels, but he didn't quite have the Liposuction.
I'm here all week.
No Ta Doctor
Über Member
I think there's a difference between having a crap tactic and having a tactic that just didn't work out. There were risks involved and a couple of them went the wrong way in the end. Van Aert being out of form was a massive blow - he would have been expected to be pivotal in the first ten days. Where they made a genuine tactical mistake was Hautacam, where they were probably lured into the big attack by Pog's crash/Almeida out/Sivakov peaky - this might be a day where he can't answer so easily and you don't get many of them. But it was too early in the race and they blew up their own team, leaving Jonas unprotected at the end. Jorgenson melting was a huge loss, that was their GCish card gone. It should have been a day for attrition, ride hard but not all in, keep the pressure up, see if there's a chance near the end. The only rider on the Visma team that's been stellar is Campenaerts (Affini also pretty good earlier on in stages), everyone else has been on a scale from decent to poor.
UAE have played it pretty well, they've curtailed the most aggressive of Pog's attacking tendencies (I think he could have had 6 or 7 stages by now, and last year probably would have) to keep him fresh, and he definitely rides more maturely now (yesterday a prime example). Visma were probably hoping he was fixated on chasing Cav's record. I think Pog has been genuinely annoyed that he's had to give up stages to what he sees as Visma silly-buggers.
May as well. All being well the rest of Le Tour could be done at a stroll, and still get a couple of stage wins.
Given that he always maintains his form for Lombardia, he may as well have a tilt, especially if the field isn't super strong. I suppose internal politics may play a role, as you'd imagine Ayuso and del Toro are going to do it, and possibly Almeida too. Throw in Majka, Vine, and McNulty and he could have stronger climbing support than he's had at the Tour.
