"It's like he swapped brains with Tadej Pogacar" - Johan Bruyneel and Spencer Martin puzzled by Vingegaard's tactics at the Vuelta

Stage 3 of the Vuelta a España ended with an uphill sprint that rewarded punch and timing. David Gaudu unexpectedly took the win, while Jonas Vingegaard finished third and became the new green jersey holder. On The Move podcast, Johan Bruyneel and Spencer Martin analyzed the key moments of the stage, unpacking what Vingegaard’s tactics might signal this early in the race.

"It's not nothing, but also combined with sprinting for the points in the middle of the stage. If this was Tadej Pogacar, he'd be getting crucified by people saying, oh, he's wasting energy. What's he doing?" Martin started.

He noted that Vingegaard’s decision to sprint was striking, especially since many GC contenders stayed protected further back in the peloton. "You know, look at his, the UAE rivals are Almeida, who is back there in 28th and Ayuso in 35th. Most of the GC contenders are further down, not putting in these massive anaerobic efforts early in the race, so why, why is Jonas doing this? And why is Visma investing the energy to do this?"

Bruyneel admitted he was surprised to see Vingegaard investing energy mid-stage. "I was surprised to see him sprint for that intermediate sprint. I didn't understand what was that about because I don't know if he thought there were bonus seconds or something".

That led both hosts to a simple hypothesis: maybe Vingegaard is already testing a run at the points jersey - unconventional for him, but plausible at the Vuelta. "The only other explanation I can think of is that he thinks that he can win also the points classification, which is not impossible in the Vuelta."

Even if it may not have been tactically necessary, Vingegaard’s actions might have been a sign of his physical condition. "It happens more often that class classification riders win also the points jersey. So that may be something that he's thinking about, but it's early on in the race to, I mean, it didn't cost too much energy. My conclusion is that Jonas Vingegaard is feeling great. That's for sure. He has great legs, feels good on the bike and, and just wants to take advantage of it."

For Martin, the striking part isn’t the tactic itself but that it’s Vingegaard doing it. The Dane’s hallmark has been restraint, but this looked more like all-out opportunism that is not characteristic from him.

"Jonas has always been so measured and conservative and that's how he's had success. And then we're seeing, it's like he swapped brains with Tadej Pogacar from 2022. He's just sprinting for everything. It's really interesting to see, but it makes it weird because like, why are you sprinting for mid mid-stage bonus seconds? If you know that you're that much better, it kind of does make you think he's going for green already, which is very ambitious."

Attention then turned to UAE’s leaders. On an uphill drag to the line, sitting too far back risks time gaps opening unexpectedly - something Bruyneel didn’t love seeing from Juan Ayuso and João Almeida. "I personally think that Ayuso and Almeida, in my opinion, they're a bit too far back. That's not a great sign. They should have been, 10, 15. Or just top 10, because it's slightly uphill and it was harder than we expected. So I think they were a bit too far back, and that's a risk. Somebody might sit up and you lose 10 seconds before you know it."

Criticism to UAE's tactics when Pogacar is not riding have been surrounding the team the whole season. "I don't love them being so far back" Martin said. "When Pogacar is not at the race seems to fall between the cracks. It kind of feels like UAE when Pogacar is not there, they're always on the back foot and stuff's always happening."

However, with almost three weeks still to race, the quiet results of Ayuso and Almeida could just reflect a slight lack of peak form. "It's a risk if it's an uphill finish like this, that something happens, somebody sits up and you, you kind of close the gap, it might just be that both Ayuso and Almeida come in a bit green, a bit off, you know, not at their full potential. I think that's more the case because especially on the stage that Jonas won yesterday."

"Normally Almeida, a great Almeida would have been there with them", Bruyneel continued. "He wouldn't have been like 10 places back, so I just think they're a tiny bit of like 1, 2% off and that's enough to not be in front, but it's three weeks stage race, so a lot of things can happen", he concluded.