"Why help Tadej Pogacar get bonus seconds and the stage win?" - Visma's Dauphiné tactics questioned by American Grand Tour winner

Stage 1 of the 2025 Criterium du Dauphine sparked into life with the GC favourites all coming out to play in a thrilling finale. The main instigators of this action were Team Visma | Lease a Bike, but how wise was were these tactics from the team of Jonas Vingegaard? For former Vuelta a Espana winner Chris Horner, Visma's actions were questionable.

"Do I like Jonas Vingegaard’s tactics? No," assesses Horner firmly in some post-stage analysis on his own YouTube channel. As the American points out, the biggest benefactor of Visma's attacking wasn't Vingegaard, but rather his biggest rival for the general classification. "Why help Tadej Pogacar get four bonus seconds and the stage win? It makes no sense."

"Especially when you’re dragging your own teammate, Matteo Jorgenson, out of the picture," Horner adds. "Maybe he remembers Stage 11 of last year’s Tour when he caught and beat a bonked Pogacar in the sprint — but this was not that."

Nevertheless, Horner must concede that Vingegaard looked good during the day, making some uncharacteristic attacks on the flat in the finale. "Vingegaard hasn’t raced since crashing out of Paris–Nice, where he suffered a concussion. Since then, it’s been nothing but training and altitude camps," says the American, with Horner also seeing positives from another Maillot Jaune contender, Remco Evenepoel.

"After his December crash involving the mail truck, he came back and won his first race at Itzulia Basque Country. But then his form dropped off dramatically at Flèche Wallonne, Liège–Bastogne–Liège, and the Tour de Romandie. I said back then he needed to take a week off — and from his own interviews, that’s exactly what he did," analyses the 53-year-old. "Now, he claims his weight is 1.5kg better than last year, and he’s already at Tour de France race weight. That’s why he’s so confident — he’s putting out Tour numbers and believes he can still improve before July."

It's Pogacar though, who clearly remains the man to beat. "He hasn’t raced since destroying everyone at Liège–Bastogne–Liège, going solo to win the biggest one-day race of the season — aside from the World Championships," Horner concludes. "So with Pogacar, Vingegaard, and Evenepoel all here, it’s going to be an exciting week."