“You can throw the weaker links overboard” - Visma performance chief ready to sacrifice riders for Jonas Vingegaard in Tour de France opener

Team Visma | Lease a Bike do not need all eight riders to survive together in the opening team time trial of the 2026 Tour de France. On a Barcelona course that ends with two sharp rises and a format that gives every rider their own finishing time, the Dutch team can burn through riders in pursuit of the first yellow jersey.

For Jonas Vingegaard, stage 1 is already a chance to put pressure on Tadej Pogacar. The Dane begins the Tour as Pogacar’s main rival once again, and Visma arrive with a squad built to empty itself across two very different parts of the course.

Mathieu Heijboer, Visma’s Head of Performance, described the new-look team time trial as something closer to a finishing train than a classic collective test. In the past, teams were usually shaped around bringing a set number of riders to the line together. In Barcelona, riders who can no longer contribute to the final push can be left behind earlier.

“You can throw the weaker links overboard more quickly, to put it a little disrespectfully,” Heijboer told WielerFlits. “But really, it is also more of a lead-out, a long lead-out to the finish, rather than a real team time trial. So it is something different, yes.”

The stage starts on flatter roads before the final section rises towards Montjuic, splitting the effort into two very different phases. Edoardo Affini, Bruno Armirail and Victor Campenaerts bring the horsepower for the opening section, while Matteo Jorgenson, Sepp Kuss, Davide Piganzoli and Per Strand Hagenes give Vingegaard support once the road becomes harder.

Heijboer pointed to the finale as the place where time could still swing between teams that arrive with different amounts left in the tank. “That also depends on the strategy of the other teams, of course,” he said. “If you arrive at the foot already spent and another team arrives fresh at the foot, then differences can definitely still be made up. It is difficult to say how much and how big those differences can be. But yes, it is true that there are two parts, and I think not only we, but other teams as well, are approaching it in that way.”

Affini, Armirail and Campenaerts can drive the speed early; Jorgenson, Kuss and Piganzoli give the team climbing cover; Hagenes adds another powerful all-round option around Vingegaard.

Visma’s final work for Barcelona included an unusual training venue. With team time trial practice difficult to complete safely on open roads, the team hired the Formula 1 circuit in Barcelona last Wednesday to run through their preparation. “It is not easy to train safely for a team time trial,” said Heijboer. “That makes it a challenge. That is why we also hired the Formula 1 circuit in Barcelona last Wednesday."

“But it is mainly a lot of talking, going through the strategy very carefully with each other and knowing what they have to do," he adds. "Fortunately, we have already had this formula a few times in Paris-Nice. We won two of the four times, and then at the Dauphine we won again. So I think we know well what we have to do. But this is difficult to train.”

Heijboer cited Visma’s two Paris-Nice wins under similar rules, as well as another victory at the Dauphine, but stopped short of placing the team above the rest of the field.

“We are doing everything we can and trying to get the maximum out of it, but we are certainly not the top favourite,” he said. “I think there are a lot of teams who can make a claim for victory. We are among them, but it is not the case that only a win will be good enough for us. I think we are among the favourites, but INEOS Grenadiers also have a huge team at the start.”

Heijboer does not expect Barcelona to create major gaps in the final general classification. The first yellow jersey is still waiting before the Tour reaches a road stage, with Visma starting around Vingegaard, a squad full of time trial power, and a format that allows the weaker links to be dropped before the final push towards Montjuic.