During an episode of the Café Eddy podcast, Bjarne Riis and Brian Holm criticized Visma – Lease a Bike’s Tour de France approach. Riis even suggested that Jonas Vingegaard might soon have to rethink his future with the team. This isn’t the first time either have had strong words about the Danish star.
Both Riis and Holm believe he could probably earn twice as much if he switched teams. The former pros pointed out that nearly every top squad in the WorldTour would be eager to sign a two-time Tour champion. But money isn’t the main concern, he added.
“I don’t think that his team is riding 100 per cent for him,” Holm said. “You can feel it. And Jonas probably knows it too.” Still, Holm said he still thinks that Vingegaard should stay where he is. He said a good idea might be to hire a Danish directeur sportif at Visma to look out for him.
Riis, however, was more direct.
“Perhaps he will grit his teeth and just get on with it,” the former Tour de France winner (sort of) said.
(By the way, a quick aside: though his nickname was ‘Mr. 60 per cent,’ his EPO-boosted hematocrit was never that high — it was a mere 56.3. But I guess ‘Mr. 60 per cent’ is catchier.)
“Or perhaps he’ll get angry and just say: ‘Enough is enough.’”
The comments follow a Tour de France where Visma used some tactics with which some analysts disagreed, while Tadej Pogačar dominated the race.
He finished second overall behind the seemingly unbeatable Pogi, but there were moments that suggested some tension around the Dane within the team. After Stage 7, the world champion expressed confusion over Visma’s tactics.
“I don’t know what tactics they used at Visma–Lease a Bike, but two riders try to steer along Simon Yates and Victor Campenaerts, in the leading group, seems like a waste of energy to me,” the world champion said. “Even that sprint at the end is pointless. Visma–Lease a Bike rode a very high pace on the penultimate climb and on the last climb.”
He added, “Matteo Jorgenson started the sprint. That’s a bit pointless, because it was no longer a sprint for a top-10. He thought maybe he could gain another second or two,” he said to Wielerflits. “Maybe they lost their way after the time trial.”
The time trial was an unusually disappointing effort for the Dane. He lost almost a minute to Pogi, and a minute and a half to world time trial champion Remco Evenepoel. Speaking of the Belgian—on Tuesday, he announced he…
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