“I don’t know what that nonsense was supposed to achieve” – Brian Holm slams Uno-X tactics after costly Tour de France gamble
CyclingSaturday, 11 July 2026 at 16:00
Uno-X Mobility launched three attacks inside the final 22 kilometres of Stage 7, only for Soren Waerenskjold to finish second when the 2026 Tour de France reached Bordeaux. Former sports director Brian Holm was left wondering whether a fully committed sprint strategy could have turned the Norwegian’s near miss into victory.
The Eurosport Denmark analyst, who spent years working with successful sprint operations at HTC-Highroad and Quick-Step, branded Uno-X’s tactics “nonsense” after Tim Merlier denied Waerenskjold at the line.
Three Uno-X attacks before Waerenskjold finishes second
A largely controlled 175.1-kilometre stage changed when Uno-X began attacking as the peloton closed on earlier escapees Baptiste Veistroffer and Jakub Otruba. Jonas Abrahamsen was launched with around 22 kilometres remaining, forcing Soudal - Quick-Step to contribute heavily to the chase. That move was caught, but Uno-X continued trying to disrupt the approach to Bordeaux through Abrahamsen and Anders Skaarseth.
Abrahamsen’s final acceleration came with just over 10 kilometres remaining. Soudal - Quick-Step and Alpecin‑Premier Tech neutralised all three moves before assembling their lead-out trains.
Waerenskjold remained in the peloton throughout. He beat Biniam Girmay, Max Kanter, Jasper Philipsen and Mads Pedersen in the bunch sprint but could not overhaul Merlier.
“You can only wonder what Uno-X were doing,” Holm said on Eurosport.dk. “They have a rider in Waerenskjold who finished second, yet they were attacking close to the finish. It looks strange when you have a rider you believe can win.”
Tim Merlier celebrates his 2026 Tour de France stage win on the podium
“They shouldn’t need waking up”
Uno-X Mobility general manager Thor Hushovd said afterwards that the attacks were intended to wake the team up before the sprint. According to Holm, that explanation doesn't cut it. “They shouldn’t need waking up,” Holm responded. “It’s a sprint, and this is exactly when they need to be awake.”
The attacks obliged rival teams to chase, but Alpecin‑Premier Tech still reached the final two kilometres with five riders assembled ahead of Philipsen. Soudal Quick-Step also reorganised around Merlier despite losing lead-out rider Bert van Lerberghe during Stage 6.
Merlier emerged in the final 200 metres and came past Waerenskjold to secure the stage victory. Girmay finished third, with Philipsen fifth and Pedersen ninth. “If they had decided to ride for him instead of launching attacks, who knows what it could have led to?” Holm added. “I don’t know what that nonsense was supposed to achieve.”
All three Uno-X attacks had been neutralised before the bunch sprint in which Waerenskjold finished behind only Merlier.
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
claps 0visitors 0
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- lance armstrong calling out someone’s behavior - crazy. there is no bigger poor sport bad teammate in the history of the sport.mij11-07-2026
- I find it boring to watch guys sitting in for 100K just to sprint the last 200 meters, lol. To each his own
ScottG11-07-2026 - Yeah, kind of disappointed me a bit more there. I respect that there are situations where someone in his position would strike a balance that lands the wrong side of history but we now live in a time where each of us has to make changes to our situation to avoid having to make bad choices. And as an example to so many others you have a bit more responsibility in the choices you make. That said, anyone seriously concerned about the future of our world would probably never have chosen to try to become a pro rider unless wanting to militate for change so he is probably not the best person to expect more from. Hopefully at some point he’ll realise the error and find solutions and better sponsors, can’t imagine he can’t be more picky.Mistermaumau11-07-2026
- MTB making headlines during the TdF, haha. even boring articles about MVDP’s expected lack of results at the TdF will get more clicks. For MVDP going to the TdF must feel like most of us feel having to spend Christmas at the in-laws.Mistermaumau11-07-2026
- Welcome to CUTD :-)Mistermaumau11-07-2026
- I did that just through cringing at the text :-) And then there are the contradictions like trying to make you think the shallow rise explained the growing gap when elsewhere it’s the descent.Mistermaumau11-07-2026
- I doubt the official narrative is just one thing and there have been plenty of improvements elsewhere, or else why is equipment nowhere like it was back in the days? Coming from another sport, many of us were always quite surprised at how underdeveloped cycling used to be, including in training but recently that seems to have been realised and reversed which accounts for the relatively big improvement compared to more « advanced » sports. If you also follow amateur cycling you’ll see improvement has been across the board. If you’re interested in more than just pro racing you’d also see how the limits are being pushed out in many different directions like training, endurance and aerodynamics and that pros still have a lot of upward potential, hence the arrival of a Seixas after a Pogačar is not really that surprising.Jumpyjohn11-07-2026
- I think if you do a proper survey you’ll discover differences between Different types of races Different periods of his career Growth from certain areas/reasons and reductions from others. Before any survey, you should decide why you want or need to know. For sure TdF crowds depend more on the kind of French participation there is than anything else. Despite its global screen reach, spectators are largely locals with a high number of visitors following along a series of stages. Pretty sure none of the Mou aren’t there though and considering his criticism of Trump, I’m not quite sure how they let him in, must have been a sleeper before Tadej’s activity woke him.Jumpyjohn11-07-2026
- Pretty easy to imagine scenarios. E.g. 300m out someone goes for it, all try to get into someone’s wheel except one guy not last who unexpectedly just rides on at his pace (whether neatly or not). And hop, he’ll be around 9 seconds off at the finish. Anyone who’s ridden races knows position makes all the difference at sprint launch, one person in front moving in the wrong direction or not participating can make a huge difference over such a small distance as it can deny you of the wind shade others are exploiting.Jumpyjohn11-07-2026
- Too much for me, attacking, defending, agreeing disagreeing, understanding or not, hard to tell what he’s really saying.Jumpyjohn11-07-2026
Loading
Write a comment