"They again spent a significant amount of energy" - Tadej Pogacar bounces off Visma's echelons raid

Stage 9 turned out to provide more spectacle than the completely flat profile would have suggested. Much of it was thanks to Alpecin duo Rickaert-Van der Poel who tried to upset the sprinters, but also GC guys had stay attentive when Visma | Lease a Bike made a courageous attempt to deal a blow to Tadej Pogacar on crosswinds.

"Tadej was quite isolated in the final after Wellens had to drop back and could not regain contact," saw ex-pro Tom Danielson in his X analysis. The Slovenian was never entirely alone, but the support of his teammates was rather mental than actually visible: "Soler found Tadej a few times as did Narvaez, but Tadej had to do much of the positioning on his own."

Luckily for UAE Team Emirates - XRG, this negligence didn't come costly as no major crashes struck the peloton. And in addition, Pogacar seems comfortable enough to take care of himself in key moments:

"Despite this he visibly moved with ease and seemed calm in the chaotic situation. Without teammates he had to do 'the washing machine' on his own, moving up the peloton on the wind side. While this takes more energy it is the safe bet so he cannot be 'guttered' if a team attacks."

With the legs the world champion displayed today, Pogacar couldn't be dropped anyways. "You could see he had wicked legs as he moved around easily while the peloton was splitting behind. Aside from seeing his strength, it also was evident how key Wellens is to Tadej’s operation."

UAE DS Joxean Matxin suggested yesterday that Visma | Lease a Bike's strategy to wear out Tadej Pogacar is a futile attempt, but it doesn't seem like the Dutch has any plans to stop. In stage 9, they were again seen at the front of action when echelons became a possible threat. Pogacar could not be bothered, but some of his teammates were indeed caught out.

"Visma again attacked the stage continuing their streak of aggression. Despite Wout tweeting he was doing the sprint, he was caught out by their attack and had to use a lot of energy chasing back as he was not with them. Kinda strange they attacked without him there as Tadej was right behind them. They again spent a significant amount of energy that in the end achieved little other than making it so Wout had no legs to do the final sprint."