"They finally did it right by using their good riders" - Thijs Zonneveld praises UAE Team Emirates' tactics on Pla d'Adet

After a disappointment on Puy Mary stage where Tadej Pogacar wasn't able to distance Jonas Vingegaard despite a powerful attack on the iconic climb in Central Massif, the arrival of Pyrenees seems to have found the Slovenian in much better shape. On Pla d'Adet his UAE Team Emirates finally used their 'mountain dream team' to put pressure on opponents as Adam Yates took on a satellite rider role on early slopes, helping Pogacar gain 43 seconds against his Danish counterpart.

"The theory was that they played into Vingegaard's hands by keeping the pace so high," says Thijs Zonneveld in the podcast In het Wiel. "But if you see how explosive Pogacar was, he did not suffer much. They finally did it right by using their good riders and the fact that they rode at the front all day seems to indicate that something really went wrong with Pogacar's food and water bottle strategy on Wednesday. He was clearly the better rider in terms of condition, so it must have been due to a sugar shortage."

Earlier this week, Vingegaard was better in Central Massif for the first time, now the ball seems to be back on Pogacar's end. "The difference is very small, so if you want to make a difference, it's in the details," the journalist continued.

According to Niki Terpstra, the fact that Vingegaard and the whole Visma | Lease a Bike has to do without luxury domestique Sepp Kuss is such an important detail. He believes the team is not the same without the Vuelta winner. "The entire Visma team is not as great as the past two years. Back then, the team was so strong that they could completely squeeze Pogacar out of it and then that little diesel from Vingegaard came to the fore. Now it's not so dominant. Look at that attack by Adam Yates: with a good Kuss they would have ridden so hard that Yates could never have been a springboard for Pogacar. Those are all small things that play a role, although the strongest man won."