Johan Bruyneel complements Visma on key gravel stage: "Jonas Vingegaard and Visma achieved a great mental victory"

Jonas Vingegaard kept the gaps as they were at the start of the day this Sunday as the peloton tackled a very hard and dangerous stage full of gravel sectors. Whilst not everyone was a fan of their defensive tactics the Dutch team achieved what they wanted and Johan Bruyneel complemented the success of the team.

“Jonas Vingegaard and Visma achieved a great mental victory on Sunday... They were great. Everything was so well organized and in defense they were incredibly strong," Bruyneel said in The Move podcast. The strongest team on paper and on the road we were able to see the same thing. Entering most of the sectors in front, the team was able to position Vingegaard well throughout the whole day, and also by having numbers they have somewhat psychologically demotivated a few possible attacks. Wout van Aert and Christophe Laporte did an immense amount of work, but even outside of it's classics experts, we've seen Matteo Jorgenson really step up to his very best level to respond to Tadej Pogacar's attacks and bring with him the Dane in the wheel.

“Matteo Jorgenson also played a crucial role in the team. When Pogacar attacked full throttle, Jorgenson was on his wheel and made the perfect decision to drop back and bring Vingegaard back. This allowed the Dane to save valuable energy". Every bit of energy was important, but early on in the day Vingegaard himself was able to respond to an attack from Pogacar who was trying to catch up with Remco Evenepoel. Individually and collectively, the team thrived to respond to the many attacks from their two rivals; whilst the rest of the field struggled behind.

Bruyneel points out that the details were not only in the riders' legs, but also for the planning, as Vingegaard was quickly helped by teammate Jan Tratnik when he punctured early in the day and ended up spending the rest of the stage on his bike.

"The Slovenian was the only rider who could have given his bike to Vingegaard. It was no coincidence that he shadowed Vingegaard all day. No rider could have done this logistically for the team, it would have been a disaster. That shows that Visma | Lease a Bike has thought everything through.”